Zero's Familiar: Unfortunate One
by cpuwizard9225
Summary: A U.S. soldier serving in Iraq is magically transported away from one battlefield onto another.
1. Chapter 1

Zero's Familiar: Unfortunate One

Baghdad Iraq, August 20th 2007 7:00 P.M. (Military Calender)

_"…it ain't me, it ain't me! I ain't no military son! It ain't me, it ain't me! I ain't no fortunate one no…"_

The music was blasted through the intercom system in the HMMWV as Pvt Jack Donnelly turned up the volume of his laptop computer. The laptop, a Christmas gift from his brother last year, was a top of the line Alienware gaming machine, but being out in Iraq left little in the way of keeping it up to date with the latest hardware now offered by Alienware. But the laptop faithfully did its job of playing games like Battlefield: Vietnam and Halo Combat Evolved. PFC Steve O'Conroy just looked over at him and smiled while Sgt John Demp handed over their identification to the night guard at the United States Combined Military base.

"I am surprised that you guys haven't been caught playing music that loudly over the intercom system. Guess its just luck." The night guard said.

"Luck nothin' pal. We gots us a pretty hip Sarge here who just so happens to like real music like some classic rock and roll." Donnelly shot back at the guard.

"You call that music? A bunch of sweaty, long haired dudes who scream into a microphone with voices like a girl? Hah!"

"Yeah well at least these guys actually sing, unlike that rap crap you listen to Tommy boy."

"Enough." Sarge cut in, "Listen I had a long boring day and I really don't need you guys to argue over who's music is better. Private O'Conroy, I believe it is your turn to return the Humvee to the motor pool tonight. Make it so. Then meet up with me and Jack here in the canteen. I would like to discuss tomorrows patrol route."

"Yes Sir!" both Jack and Steve responded.

Sarge and Jack got out of the vehicle and headed towards the canteen.

"Yo Jack! Don't you want your laptop?!" Steve yelled before they got too far away.

"Nah, leave it in there for tomorrow!" Jack yelled back.

Steve put the Humvee back in gear and started driving through the base towards the bases vehicle motor pool. A full six months into his tour of duty in Iraq and not a single thing has happened at all while he has been here. Not a single thing. Those stupid reporters on the evening news back home almost never told the full story. He had come here hoping to kick some terrorist ass but had done nothing more than listen to classic rock while drive around in a humvee all day. Nothing not a single damn thing…

BOOM!

An explosion 5 vehicles down from where Steve was rocked the base. He hit the brakes and just stared at the burning wreckage in total shock. Then the sound of small arms fire came from the other side of the base and he saw about 20 men wielding AK-47 Assault Rifles climb through the burning vehicles and open fire on him. So much for a quiet tour! He shoved the HMMVW down into low gear, stomped the gas and spun the vehicle around, burning rubber as though the Humvee were a racecar. He had to get away or they would annihilate him! He had heard the stories of what had happened to some of the unlucky men who were captured by terrorists. They were often tortured in ways you couldn't possibly imagine. And he was determined NOT to let that happen to him! As he sped away he looked in the driver side mirror to get a better look at his attackers, and that's the last thing he saw.

Tristian Academy of Magic

"What was that?"

"It sounded like Saito and Louise again didn't it Principal Osmond?"

The Principal of the Tristian Academy of Magic slowly turned his chair around to look out the huge window in his office. It gave him a great view of the school grounds, all the better to keep track of what is happening at his school.

"Hmm, I don't see any smoke or…well now, what's that?"

"What's what sir?"

"That wall on the lower right, it seems something has crashed into it. Would you be so kind as to go and investigate this disturbance Mrs. Lowell?"

"Yes sir, right away."

"I have a strange feeling about this event Motsognir."

Unknown Place, August 24th 2007 7:10 P.M. (Military Calender)

"Aye, aye, aye, my fucking head really hurts."

Private First Class Steve O'Conroy slowly pushed the door of the Humvee open. Then he unbuckled himself and grabbed his M16 A2 Assault Rifle from the passenger seat. He managed to slip out of the driver's seat and onto what appeared to be a well kept lawn. After lying on the grass for a few seconds his mind was working well enough for him to stand and assess his current situation. He looked around to see nothing but a green open plain with a forest in the distance behind the Humvee. And in front of the vehicle was a huge stone wall, 12 ft. high easy. So his half working mind concluded, he was 

the victim of an automobile accident. But that didn't explain the environment surrounding him. Memory has a funny way of working. Up until now he had completely forgotten about the terrorist attack on his base. Shit.

He sat back in the driver's seat of the wrecked humvee, took a cigarette from his pack of Marlboro Reds and was just about to light it when he saw a middle aged woman in a long dark green dress with what appeared to be a cloak draped around her running towards him. Training kicked in from there. He dropped the lighter from his right hand while his left hand brought the M16 up. In less than a second he was aiming between her eyes.

"Stand back civilian! Or I will be forced to open fire!" O'Conroy shouted.

_"Bonjour! Qui sont vous?"_ the woman yelled at him.

The woman still came closer too him, she appeared to be holding a small stick in her right hand. Bonjour, that word was the only thing going through his mind. Then it hit him! She spoke French! But that would mean that he was in France. How in the hell did he wind up here? Screw it, think about it later.

Tristian Academy of Magic

"Hello! Who are you?" Mrs. Lowell yelled again.

"_Stand back civilian! Or I will be forced to open fire!"_ The strange man shouted while he pointed a strange looking wand at her.

By now Mrs. Lowell wasn't the only person arriving at the scene of this big commotion. This whole incident happened just as the students were going from one class to the next and there was a growing circle of children around her and this person who was leaning on what appeared to be a strange horse drawn carriage. She then turned to the students.

"Please stand back children. I will handle the current situation."

"Mrs. Lowell? What happened here?! And who is that man?"

That question came from Louise de la Valliere. And behind her was her ever faithful familiar Saito.

"I don't know Louise, but by judging from the look on that mans face he doesn't appear to be too happy right now. If only I could understand what he is saying."

"What do you mean if only you could understand what he is saying."

That came from Saito. But before Mrs. Lowell could answer the man spoke again.

"_Does anyone here speak English?! Anyone!?"_

Everybody continued to stare at the stranger that had ended up at their school, everyone except for Saito Hiraga. He actually started walking towards the man.

"_Listen boy, I don't want to have to shoot you! Please stand back!"_ O'Conroy yelled

"_You have no need to shoot me. Nobody here is will cause you any harm. So please put your gun down."_

Steve was astonished. He quickly lowered his weapon. This boy spoke English, but with Japanese accent. This was making absolutely no sense to him whatsoever. But O'Conroy spoke again.

"_I have just one question." _Steve said_. "And you better be able to answer it."_

_"Fine, ask your question."_ Saito said.

"_What the hell is going on here?!"_

Tristian Academy of Magic

"So this man is from your world is he not?"

"Yes Osmond. I think he might be an American."

"American? Saito, what is an American?"

"An American comes from the country of the United States of America. It is a country in my world. He is also a soldier."

"A soldier?"

"Yes, he is wearing what appears to be a uniform from their army. Plus he has a gun and a Humvee."

As Osmond let that information digest there was a knock at his door.

"Come in."

Mrs. Lowell, Louise, and the American, who now was handcuffed, came into the room.

"_Nobody will cause me any harm eh? You're a fucking liar boy. These two women here did something to me when I tried to start my HMMVW and get away! One minute I am in my Humvee, trying to start it and the next, I am unconscious and in cuffs!"_

Everybody in the room stared at the man as he spoke to Saito. Saito smiled nervously back at the man. He then had Mrs. Lowell remove the cuffs.

_"There" _Saito said "_Is that better?"_

_"Yes"_ The man answered.

"Saito, you can understand this man?" Louise asked.

"Of course, he is speaking English. It is a well known language back in my world. His country and many others use it."

"Hmm, is that so?" Osmond asked.

"Yes, unfortunately I am still not very good at it. And I really don't want to act as a translator here." Saito answered."Hey, Louise."

"Yes?"

"Remember what you did to me, how you made me able to understand your language?"

"Yeah, but that was a mistake. I was actually trying to shut you up."

"So what? Do you think you could do it to this man?"

"I can try."

Saito then turned to the American "_You may feel slightly discomfort able during this."_

_"During what?!" _O'Conroy yelled?

He never got an answer, instead he got an explosion.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU PEOPLE TRYING TO DO?! KILL ME?!" O'Conroy shouted.

For a second the room fell quite. Everybody stared at O'Conroy who was blackened from the explosion from Louise's wand. Then he reached for his belt and pulled out a large black Beretta M92 Handgun, aimed it at the ceiling and fired twice.

"Listen, I want some answers right now. Do not fuck with me. If any of you make a sudden move I will not hesitate to shoot!" O'Conroy yelled.

Again, everybody just stood and stared in amazement.

"Where do you want us to start?" Saito asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You said you wanted some answers. Where do you want us to start?"

"You gonna give me real answers? And not screw around?"

"Yeah, but only if you put the gun away."

"Oh, I've heard that one before. This gun stays right here in my hands. Just in case somebody tries to blow me up again."

"Ok, have it your way. Now what do you want answered?"

"Where the hell am I?"

Tristian Academy of Magic

"Well, I am at a total loss for words."

It had taken 45 minutes to explain everything to PFC Steve O'Conroy, where he was, what was going on, everything. But the end result was not unlike a very hard slap to the face.

"That is to be expected." Saito said. "That is exactly how I felt when I got here. You Mr. O'Conroy are just like me. Age set aside."

"But how did I get here?"

"I dunno know, Louise summoned me as a familiar, but you. I don't think we will find out why."

"And you are absolutely sure I can not go home?"

"Afraid so."

"So now what?"

That there was a question, a real hard question. Steve now had no home, no money, nothing. He might as well not even exist here. That was bad, he guessed. He was now in a world where he really did not belong. And not being able to go back brought tears to his eyes. Slowly, holding back the tears he looked up at the ceiling.

"I can no longer go home. I no longer have a home, I no longer have a life. So there is no reason for me to keep living."

In one quick motion he brought the Beretta that was in his left hand up and put the barrel in his mouth to the collective horror of those around him.

"NO!" Saito yelled. "You only have one life! Don't throw it away like this! Please! Put the gun down. We will think of something."

"What? How could death possibly be any worse than this?" He muttered.

Then he pulled the trigger. Well, he tried to anyways. His body wouldn't move. It was as though he were frozen. His mind was sending out the single to pull the trigger but his finger wouldn't respond. He frantically looked around the room and saw Osmond pointing his magic wand at him.

"Please, put your weapon down. I will personally assure you that we will work something out. In the meantime you can stay here at the academy."

O'Conroy took the gun out of his mouth

"You sure?"

"Yes. We will. Now, I must contact the Royal Court about this unprecedented set of circumstances that has befallen us. Saito, Louise, would you be so kind as to show our guest around? Make him feel at home."

"Of course Principal Osmond." They both replied.

As they walked back to where the Humvee to get Steve's belongings Saito couldn't help but ask about the current situation of Earth.

"Really nothing much has changed. At least not to my knowledge. You have to remember that I was in Iraq before I came here. I don't really think anything is happening to Japan right now other than the fact that the economy is faltering a little bit." Steve said as the walked through the yard.

"So you were in Iraq?" Saito asked. "What a stupid pointless war."

"Saito, shut up." Louise said. "I don't really think now is the time for one of your stupid comments. Sorry Mr. O'Conroy-"

"Please, just call me Steve."

"Sorry Steve, Saito here doesn't understand war at all."

"Of course I don't its just pointless killing!"

"You know what kid? It may be pointless killing in your eyes but not in mine. Yes, war is a bad thing, and no, war should never happen but sometimes it just has to. It doesn't matter why, it just has to. And I chose to become a soldier, to fight wars for my country. And before you say anything else, I will tell you why I joined the service. Around 120 years ago my family emigrated from Ireland to America in search of a better life. 120 years later we still have no wish to return back. America has given us so much, so I figured it was time for me to give back to my country. To repay our debts if you will for the wonderful life that we are allowed to live there."

"I see, sorry to push your buttons."

"No problem. You know what you can do to make up for it?"

"What?"

"Reach in the back of the humvee and grab that big green bag."

Saito opened the back door of the Humvee and tried to lift the bag but found that it was very difficult. This bag was extremely heavy! But after a few minutes of wrestling around with it he finally hoisted it up onto his shoulders and was ready to walk back to his and Louise's room. Osmond said that Steve should stay there, because both he and Saito come from the same world and Saito could answer any questions he had. By the time they got back to the room and he dropped the bag on the floor Saito's shoulders ached badly.

"Jeez, what do you have in that thing man?"

Steve strolled over the bag and unzipped it.

"Well let's see, we got my clothes, body armor, some spare clips for the Berretta and a couple of mags for the -16, Jack's laptop and a bunch of mangas."

"D-d-did you s-s-say, m-m-m-manga?!"

"Yeah why?"

"YES!! OH GOD THANK YOU! YOU HAVE BEEN THE ANSWER TO MY DREAMS!!"

Saito almost knocked Steve over as he ran to the bag.

"You have Bleach! Gasp! And Naruto?! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Go ahead and have them. They were Jack's and I was gonna throw them out anyways."

"Um, what is a manga?" Louise asked.

"Well, a manga is like a picture book from Saito's country. They have been very popular in America in recent years."

"I see. And what is that thing right there?" Louise said as she pointed at the laptop sitting on the table.

"Oh that? That is a laptop computer. It is Jack's but I don't think he will ever be seeing it again."

"Laptop computer?"

"Oh, right you people don't have computers. A computer is a machine that can do all sorts of amazing things, like it can do math, you can write letters with it, create pictures, watch movies, play games or listen to music. This particular one right here use used mainly for playing games and music."

"Music? You mean that little box right there can play an instrument?"

"Play an instrument? Hahaha, but no. It plays music by, well um, how bout I just show you instead."

Steve opened the laptop and quickly opened iTunes and started playing some Def Leppard while Louise stared at the little machine in amazement."

_"__Step inside, walk this way, you and me babe, Hey, hey! Love is like a bomb, baby, c'mon get it on Livin' like a lover with a radar phone, Lookin' like a tramp, like a video vamp, Demolition woman, can I be your man? Razzle 'n' a dazzle 'n' a flash a little light, Television lover, baby, go all night, Sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet, little miss ah innocent sugar me, yeah. Hey! C'mon, take a bottle, shake it up! Break the bubble, break it up! Pour some sugar on me! Ooh, in the name of love! Pour some sugar on me! C'mon fire me up! Pour your sugar on me! Oh, I can't get enough..."_

The music was blasted through the built in Bose speaker system and the room quickly filled with the sound of rock and roll. Steve closed his eyes and remembered his childhood, sitting in a car listening to this while driving home from high school. He then opened them and looked around the room. Saito was sitting in a chair reading through his new mangas, making up for the time he spent without them. Steve just looked at him. He appeared to be about 17. Only 6 years his junior, he then looked at Louise who was staring intensely at the computer screen, watching the visualization play. She appeared to be about 15 or 16. He then let out a sigh and closed his eyes. For some reason he actually felt, well, calm with maybe a bit of happiness. Slowly he drifted off to sleep.

Baghdad Iraq August 21st 2007 9:45 P.M.

"Sarge, we have finished securing the base. Unfortunately there are over 150 casualties and we are unable to account for at least 20 others."

"God dammit! Why the hell did this have to happen? 150 people dead, and 20 missing? Any body from my group on that list Private?"

"Um, yes sir. We cannot account for PFC Steve O'Conroy."

"Steve? He was supposed to be returning the Humvee to the motor pool before this."

"Sorry sir, but we are doing all we can."

"Fine, carry on private. I have got to report this to the higher ups. Boy are they gonna be pissed."

"Yes sir."

Tristian Academy of Magic August 21st 2007 9:45 P.M. (Military Calender)

The light from the morning sun filtered into the room through the window. The ray of light cast itself upon the closed eyes of PFC Steve O'Conroy who immediately bolted upright, pistol in hand and drenched in sweat. He made a quick sweep of the room, wondering where the hell he was. Then the rest of his mind came online and he remembered the events of the past 24 hours. He relaxed about and went over to Saito and tried to wake him.

"Oy, wake up. C'mon wake up already!"

"Mmph, dude, it's the Day of Nothing. Go back to sleep."

"Day of Nothing? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Just go back to sleep."

Irritated at the fact that Saito wouldn't get up, and he really didn't feel like disturbing Louise. Considering the stories he had heard from Saito about her temper he thought that letting her sleep would probably be a very good idea. He then went over to the laptop but the battery was dead. Stupid, he forgot to shut it off before going to bed, and the charger for it was still in the Humvee. With nothing better to do he decided he might as well go and take a look around this new place he was stranded in. He could even take a jog and do some push ups or sit ups, work up a sweat.

Steve walked down the hallways of the Academy, looking for an exit while he admired the architecture of the building. After bumbling around for a while he did find the exit and stepped outside onto the well kept lawn. It never really sank in until now that this place was huge. It was definitely bigger than the high school he went to as a child. Living in a town of only 300 people for most of your life did give you an appreciation of the size of other places. Judging by the size of this building there could easily be twice as many people here. Then a voice pulled him out of his mind and back into reality.

"Hey you, yes you by the door!"

Steve looked to his right and saw a girl running towards him, a well endowed girl at that, with a nice tan. He wondered what she could possibly want with him.

"Yes" he said "What do you want?"

"Aren't you the man who, um, "appeared" here yesterday?"

"Yes that would be me, now what do you want?"

"That would mean your from Saito's world then! Tell me your name!"

"Whoa, excuse me your highness! Perhaps the young lady wouldn't mind introducing herself first, before asking someone his name?"

"Her name is Kirche, Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst, now who are you?"

"My name is Steve O'Conroy. Now may I as what it is you want with me?"

"You come from Saito's world is that right?"

"Yes it would seem. Why does that matter?"

"Could you tell me how I could get him to like me?"

"What!? Why would you want that?!"

"Well, you see, I love him. Yes me, in love with a commoner!"

"So, that's how it is?"

"Yes, I have always loved him since the day I laid my eyes on him."

"Ok, just let me try and remember what mama O'Conroy used to say about meddling in the affairs of others, especially when love is involved. Oh, that's right, she said to stay out of it. Sorry, I can't help you."

"But, but, you come from his world! You should know how I can get him to love me!"

"Yes I come from his world, but that doesn't mean I know anything about him. We come from different countries with different customs, plus we are both different men and no two people are alike."

"But-"

"No buts, I have made my answer final. Besides, you can use magic. Why not make a love potion or something?"

"You're right. Thanks!"

As Kirche ran off Steve started walking back to the Humvee

"Jeez, what the hell have I gotten myself into?"

Upon reaching the vehicle he decided to have a closer look at it. The front end was a little crumpled from hitting the wall but he had only been going about 15 miles an hour when he hit so it wasn't that bad and the rear end of the vehicle was just fine. On top of the machine the M60 Machine gun was still in place and ready to fire. He decided to unload it, just incase somebody decided to mess around with it. Then he looked at the tires. Again everything checked out. He decided to try and start it. He reached for the ignition and after a few tries the diesel engine was running smoothly. GM still knew how to make a good truck.

After driving around the grounds for a few minutes Steve started to feel depressed. So what if the Humvee started? He only had half a tank of fuel in it and after that then what? He was driving this thing only for the nostalgic feeling. After a few minutes Steve sort of stopped paying attention of where he was driving, not good. The only thing that brought him back was the scream from somebody in a maids uniform. He slammed on the brakes and cranked the steering wheel hard to the left, narrowly missing the person who was screaming. As soon as the vehicle stopped he put it in park and ran over to the maid.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry! Miss, miss! Calm down, its ok."

"W-w-what is that thing!? It almost hit me!"

"I said I'm sorry, it was my fault I wasn't paying attention."

"Siesta! Siesta! Are you o.k.?" Saito shouted as he ran from the castle towards Steve and the maid.

"What did you do to her?!" He demanded.

"I, I almost ran her over." Steve answered. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was driving. I said I was sorry!"

"Next time pay attention to where you are going! You could kill someone with that thing!"

"Sorry ok? Also I don't think anybody is going to be driving anywhere after this."

"Why is that?"

Steve pointed to the Humvee, which was no longer on.

"Out of gas."

Saito looked over at the vehicle and saw that it was indeed out of fuel. Then he thought he might as well let Steve in on his secret. After making sure Siesta was o.k. Saito told Steve to follow him.

"Dude, you have got to be kidding me." Steve said upon arriving at their destination.

"Not at all, this plane is a WWII Zero fighter. Siesta's family had been keeping it for over 50 years." Saito explained

"So this is what a Zero looks like. My grandaddy always told me stories about how he had to fly his F4F Wildcat against these in the Pacific in WWII. But, why did you show me this?"

Saito walked over the a bunch of wooden barrels and opened one.

"Look."

"So what? Its just gasoline...wait, gasoline? Where did you get gasoline?!"

"Professor Colbert managed how to manufacture it after studying a small sample. Lucky for me he wrote down how before he died."

"Well thats all fine and dandy but I need diesel fuel not gasoline."

"Just get a small amount of diesel and the teaching staff will figure out how to make it."

"Really?! Alright! But, whats the point. It's not like my Humvee is of any use here."

"Wrong. You have no idea how useful this Zero has been to me. Several times I have had to use this thing for the purpose of fighting the war..."

"War? What war?"

"Oh nobody ever told you, but right now there is a war between Tristian and Albion. I'm not particularly happy about it but I had to use this Zero to go fight through a whole army of Dragon Knights. With its built in machine gun it went through Albion's army like a hot knife through butter."

"Really? There is a war going on here too?"

"Unfortunately. I also have a feeling that after the Royal Court has been made aware of your arrival and who you are I think they may use you as a soldier."

"Use me? But why? I have nothing to do with this war. It just sounds like another Vietnam."

"They would use you for the technology you brought with you. Like that rifle slung on your back, the pistol in your belt, or the machine gun on top of your truck."

Steve stopped to think about that. He had no problem with fighting a war, as long as there is good reason behind it. Plus his weapons would probably allow him to go through the enemy like Sherman through Georgia.

"Saito, if I were to help Tristian, what would I get out of it?"

"Wait, your actually considering fighting in this war?"

"Why not. I have nothing here. No home, no family, no purpose. But fighting in this war will give me a purpose, a reason to continue living here. While I am not exactly proud of it, the moment I stuck the barrel of this pistol into my mouth I actually pulled the trigger, well I tried to but my body wouldn't move. I guess what I am saying is that I need something to live for."

"Yeah but, why fight? You could do something else."

"Like what? Be a servant to somebody? Yeah right."

"True, you don't look like the kind of person who would serve another just because of social status."

Both Saito and Steve stood in silence as they compiled their thoughts, only to be interrupted by Louise.

"Saito! We are leaving! Princess Henrietta has personally requested our presence."

"What? Why?"Saito asked.

"I don't know but she wants us at the castle within the next 2 days."

Steve finally snapped out of his thoughts.

"Wait, Saito! How long would it take to have the teaching staff manufacture some diesel fuel?"

"A day or so, why?"

"How bout I drive you guys to the castle? I would give me something to do. Besides sit here and twiddle my thumbs."

"Drive?"Luise asked"What does he mean by drive?"

"He wants to give us a ride in his truck. The machine he came here in. I actually think it might be a good idea."

"Why?"

"Well, it is many times faster than a horse, plus it would be much more comfortable to ride in."

"Hey!"Steve interrupted "Are you going to keep talking or get someone to make me some diesel?"

Leaving Tristian Academy August 27th 2007 4:40 A.M.(Military Calender)

With everybody buckled and their luggage secure Steve starts the HMMWV and pulls out of the front gate of the Academy. He figured that if they left now the could get to the castle by noon. Most HMMWVs can only go around 50MPH but thats before the soldiers get their hands on them and modify them. If he wanted to Steve could have this thing cruise at 75MPH but the roads mandated no more than 55 to 60. He yawned looked up at the sky and saw the two moons of this land. For some reason it reminded him of the song Drops of Jupiter by Train. He wondered if Jack had it on his laptop. He could easily check when they stopped for lunch. Saito was asleep in the back seat, riding in a vehicle doing 60MPH was nothing new for him but Louise looked out the front passenger seat window in amazement as the scenery whipped by in the pre-dawn light.

"Wow"She said"Horses don't even have a chance against something this fast."

"Eh, in my world we have vehicles that can go 3 or 4 times faster than this. And in my country almost everyone has a car. The automobile replaced the horse about 80 years ago in my world."Steve stated.

"Really? Please tell me more about your world."

"Didn't Saito already tell you about it?"

"A little, but I wish to know more."

"Well, my world is more or less like this one, but the names and places are different. Also we have no Mages or Dragons or anything like that. We use technology to accomplish everything. We also have no such thing as Nobles or Commoners. Sure there are rich people but if you wanted to live like Royalty you had to earn it the hard way. Everybody is more or less equal in my world, especially in my country. Whether you are girl or boy, black or white, rich or poor you are guaranteed equal treatment under the law. It doesn't always work that way but thats the idea and in my opinion it is a good one."

"I see. That would definitely explain the way Saito behaved when he first arrived here."

"How did he behave?"

"Well, he had absolutely no respect for nobles whatsoever. He even fought a noble just because that person irritated him."

"Just because he irritated him? No other reason?"

"Well, he did say that he didn't care about Nobles or Commoners, he said that he would never lower his head to just anyone. Stupid."

"Not stupid, he is absolutely right in thinking that way. In our world EVERYBODY is equal. I should know, I am a soldier, I protect that equality. And if anybody has anything to say about it they can answer to my M16 here."

With that Steve raised his rifle and set it on the center console between him and Louise. It felt good he though, teaching what he knew to somebody who had never even heard of the United States. He always thought he would have been a good teacher if he tried but the cost of college made that a no go. But now that he was done he thought it was two quiet.

"Hey, Louise."

"Yes?"

"You remember the laptop computer?"

"Yeah?"

"How would you like to use it?"

"Really? But I wouldn't know how."

"Its easy, just follow my instructions. Your just going to make it play music."

Steve told her to grab the laptop from on top of the dashboard and turn it on. After it turned on he told Louise how to open iTunes and how to find music.

"Ok, now scroll down the list and click on the song Drops of Jupiter by Train."

"Um, I can't."

"Why not? You can't read or something?"

"Of course I can read! Just not your language."

Whoops, Steve forgot that the laptop was an American machine and therefore would be set to English. So he told her to set it on the center console facing him. He then used his right hand to navigate and eventually find the song he wanted. With a source of music the drive would go by much faster, even if only he and Saito could understand the lyrics at least it was something for everybody to listen to. And since they had a car and solar charger pack (yes, they do have solar chargers for laptops) he wouldn't have to worry about the battery going dead. With that taken care of he put both eyes back on the road. His mind then drifted to the events that would likely unfold later in the day. He wondered what the Princess would be more interested in - him, the Humvee, the laptop, or the his weapons. Probably the Humvee and the weapons he thought. Well, whatever, as long as he had a reason to live, even if it was a flimsy one.

Tristian Royal Castle August 27th 2007 12:17 P.M. (Military Calender)

Steve let the Humvee roll to a stop outside the main gate of the Royal Castle. The size of the place was so big it was on the point of overwhelming him. He looked ahead as the gate started to open, letting what appeared to be a security guard outside. The guard stared at the humvee, probably wondering what it was, before the yelling of Louise brought him over to the passenger side door. Louise explained who she was and her business here and the guard had the gates opened all the way. Steve drove the humvee up to the main steps of the castle, turned it off and got out.

"This place is freaking huge!" He said in amazement.

"Its nothing special." Louise said as she got out of the Humvee.

"Yea, its big. Don't get lost here though." Saito yawned. Amazing he could sleep through all those bumps and potholes on the ride over.

"Louise! Saito! Up here!" A young and beautiful woman shouted from the Balcony above the steps.

"Princess! We'll be right up!" Louise shouted back. "Come on, I don't want to keep Henrietta waiting."

The trio proceeded up the steps and into the room that led to the balcony. Princess Henrietta was sitting at a table, sipping from a cup of tea. She turned to look at her arriving guests. After seeing that there were three people and not the usual two her faced showed a bit of confusion.

"Who is he?" She asked.

"My name is Private First Class Steve O'Conroy of the United States Army, your highness." Steve answered.

The princess looked him up and down, obviously confused by the Army uniform, and the army he said he was from. She then looked to Louise and was about to ask a question but Louise already knew what it was.

"He appeared here about 3 days ago, at the academy. He says he is from the same world as Saito and Saito agrees with him. We still don't know how he got here." Louise said

"Really?"Henrietta said. "So you are from Saito's world?"

"Yeah, it would appear so."

"Well, I am glad to have you as a guest. Please, sit down and join us for tea."

"Sorry ma'am but I don't drink tea. I don't like the taste."

"Steve!" Louise yelled in shock. "You don't refuse something offered by the Queen of this land."

"Sorry, geez. I just don't like tea. Is there a problem with that?"

Louise looked like she was about to explode on Steve but lucky for him Henrietta spoke before she could do anything.

"Its o.k. we can get you something else to drink. How about water or maybe coffee?"

"Nah, I'd rather not princess. Besides I got a bottle of Coke in my backpack here."

Steve pulled the soft drink out of his back pack pocket, opened it and took a swig. It was warm. How unfortunate. Again everybody except Saito stared at him. He replaced the cap and took his seat at the table.

"Coke?" Henrietta asked.

"It's a drink from my world. Here try it." Steve said as he poured some out of his bottle and into an empty cup. "You'll probably like it. Unfortunately I only got one more bottle and thats down in the Humvee."

"Thank you." Henrietta said. She then turned to Louise. "Are you wondering why I called you here with such urgency?"

"Yes, somewhat."

"You see, although Albion's army was stopped because of Saito, they have been rebuilding and are now planning another attack on Tristian."

"What?! Your kidding right?"

"Sorry, but I am not. Several spies within Albion's government have said that their army has commenced training for an invasion along the western coast of Tristian, specifically through the village of Diminity. They also say that the invasion will make use of at least 2 battleships."

"And you want us to help in defense of the village?'

"Yes, if you would please. Our army is still recovering from our attack on Albion and we just don't have enough men to defend ourselves. That is why I want you and Saito to help. Saito has the Dragons Remaint, I mean Zero Fighter and you have Void Magic. Please, I would be extremely grateful if you could help me."

Everbody fell silent, thinking about what they had just heard. After a minute or so it was Steve who broke the silence.

"When does the enemy plan to attack?"

"2 weeks from now." Henrietta said.

"I don't know about Saito and Louise but I will fight for you. I am a soldier after all."

"Really? But what can you do?"

"Oh, princess, may I demonstrate what I can do?"

"Sure."

"Ok, but you might wanna cover your ears."

Steve grabbed his M16 and switched the fire selector from Safe to semi-automatic. Then he had Saito throw a plate into the air. Steve brought the stock of the rifle up to his cheek and looked down the sights. Time seemed to slow as he put the sights on the flying plate. He squeezed the trigger and BOOM! The plate exploded into a million pieces. Henrietta looked over at him.

"You have a musket?" She asked.

"No ma'am, this here is the M16 A2 Rifle, standard issue for all U.S. Infantry. It is much more accurate than your muskets and is capable of firing off 30 rounds in either single or 3 round burst without reloading."

"I will have the captain of the Gunpowder Squadron talk with you later about defending the village, they will be the ones in charge of this operation. Louise, Saito, will you also help?"

"Yes ma'am." They both replied.

Tristian Royal Castle (Driveway?)

_"There is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say. You remain, my power, my pleasure, my pain, baby. To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny. Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby? But did you know, that when it snows, my eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen. Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave. Ooh, the more I get of you stranger it feels, yeah. Now that your rose is in bloom. A light hits the gloom on the grave, I've been kissed by a rose on the grave, I've been kissed by a rose, I've been kissed by a rose on the grave, ...And if I should fall along the way I've been kissed by a rose...been kissed by a rose on the grave..."_

Steve was lying in the back seat of the humvee, helmet pulled down to cover his eyes, listening to music from the laptop. He was so mellow at the moment that he nearly fell asleep. As dark of a song as "Kiss from a Rose" was it was also very soothing. And Steve knew that a good song can mellow you out as well as any cigarette. If it weren't for the loud yell of Captain Agnes he probably would have fallen asleep.

"Private First Class Steve O'Conroy!" Agnies shouted

"Wha? Oh um, over here!"

"The queen told me that you had some items that she thought would be useful to us. Is the strange machine your in one of them?"

"Oh this?" Steve asked as he got out of the Humvee. "Yes, I think you will find most of my equipment useful"

"Ok, gather your stuff and follow me."

"Yes ma'am."

Steve turned back to the Humvee and started grabbing equipment. He realized that he still had all the equipment for a three man patrol in here. He grabbed his M16 and a spare clip, the Beretta Handgun and a spare clip for that, Sarge's scoped M1903 Springfield Sniper Rifle (1 out of 3 still in service at the base) and an AT-4 disposable rocket launcher.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Ok, to your left is the shooting range. Now show me what your weapons can do." Captain Agnes ordered.

Steve looked to his left and saw that there where targets lined up maybe 100 or 125 yards away. This was gonna be easy he thought. He dropped the AT-4 and the Springfield and brought his M16 to his shoulder. He flipped the fire selector to 3 round burst. He put the sights on the silhouette's neck. That would ensure a headshot since the recoil would cause the rifle to "muzzle up". He slowly squeezed the trigger-_BRAT,BRAT,BRAT!!_ Steve looked at the target, one round in the neck, one below the nose, and the last went in the left eye. Agnes just stared for a second but quickly regained her composure.

"I thought you were demonstrating a firearm not another form of magic."She snorted.

"Magic? This is a gun, like your muskets but much better."

"But I didn't see you put a ball or any gunpowder in the muzzle. So how did it work?"

Steve pulled the magazine out of the rifle, pulled a round out of the magazine, used a pair of pliers to pull the bullet away from the cartridge and dumped the powder out of the cartridge onto his hand and shoved it all in Agnes face.

"I don't have to do all that muzzle loading crap because everything is contained in this cartridge right here." he said as he pointed to the empty brass cartridge. "On the back of the cartridge there is a little circle which contains the primer, you would call it flash powder or something I think. Anyways the hammer strikes the firing pin which strikes the primer which ignites the gunpowder forcing the bullet out of the cartridge and down the barrel. In my world we put cartridges in magazines which hold anywhere from 5 to 30 cartridges. We can then use the recoil or gas from firing the cartridge to load another cartridge, thus enabling us to fire some weapons until they are empty just by holding down the trigger."

"Why the hell didn't we think of that?! Are we not paying our scientists and researchers enough?"

"How would I know, I am not from here. I would let you reverse engineer this rifle but I don't think you people can produce this particular weapon because you don't have the proper materials. However, you could reverse engineer that Springfield rifle on the ground due to how simply it is built. Some wood and metal and you could have a weapon that can be used without reloading after every shot and you could shoot 20 times farther. Would you like me to demonstrate?"

"No, I understand. So thats two weapons. What about that one there?"

Agnes pointed to the AT-4

"Oh, this is an AT-4 Disposable Anti Tank rocket launcher."

"Care to explain?"

"Well, it fires a rocket which can penetrate over 400 millimeters of steel. I am guessing I will be up against wooden ships so I will probably destroy those. I would demonstrate this one but I only have three and I think we will need them."

"Yes, Ok. Thank you for your time. Tomorrow I will go over plans to defend the village with you Saito and Louise."

"Ok ma'am."

Tristian Royal Castle August 28th 2007 9:20 A.M. (Military Calender)

"So Saito and Louise will come in from the North using the Dragons Remaint-I mean Zero Fighter. You two will distract the enemy so Steve can get into position and fire is AT-4." Agnies said as she pointed to a small hill on the map close to the village of Diminity. "The gunpowder squadron will then come out of the village and clean up the stragglers. This is a simple plan but the fight will be tough. We only have about 500 soldiers compared to their 2000. Fortunately most of them will be on the ships. With this plan we should be able to eliminate at least a third of the enemy force. Also Saito won't be forced to kill anyone."

"Thank you Agnies for thinking of that." Saito said sarcastically. Already his hatred of war was showing.

"We move out tomorrow, make sure you all are well rested for we will be leaving early."

Agnes left the room. Steve looked at the ceiling and started mentally going through the plan. It was extremely simple. All he had to do was hit the battleship with a rocket. Two ships and three rockets? Shouldn't be hard to hit something sitting out at on the ocean.

"Steve, what do you think?" Saito asked.

"What do you mean by that?"

"What do you think about this battle?"

"Easy in concept and operation. With my weapons I should be able to kill most of the enemy and leave before the dust settles."

"I meant what do you think about killing people in battle?"'

"Well, its either them or me. War ain't pretty. It isn't supposed to be."

"You know you could just leave right now and not have anything to do with this."

"Eh, I couldn't. So far what I see here is an unprovoked attack on a peaceful country. Remember Pearl Harbor? Thats what this looks like to me. Except only this time I can prevent it."

"I guess thats a good reason."

"Well, enough of this. I will be in my room if any of you need me."

"And I need to talk to the princess." Louise finally said.

Louise and Steve left the room and Saito was alone. He didn't want to be apart of this but that stubborn Louise. She just doesn't seem to understand that the battlefield is no place for a person like her. Even now she continues to think like an arrogant noble. He thought that their adventure in Albion would have changed that but it seems that some people never change he thought to himself.

"Well at least I now have something to live for." Steve said to himself as he lied on his bed. "A war which I can participate in. God, why do you want me to continue living here in this strange and primitive land?"

"What do you mean by strange and primitive?"

Steve sat up quickly to see the source of the new voice in his room. Standing at the door was the Queen, Henrietta.

"I was wondering when you would notice me here." She said.

"Um, nothing. I just, its..."

"I get it. You're in a strange place with no friends, no home, no reason to live and you are wondering why you continue to live."

"Let me guess, you used magic to read my mind?"

"Your thoughts are so obvious I don't need magic to read your mind." Henrietta said as she sat down next to Steve. "You will just have to adjust to life here. I am sorry but it can't be helped."

"Eh, It doesn't matter. Its just that, I don't wanna get used to life here. I really want to go home. I have a wife and kid waiting for me. Well, maybe not anymore. The will probably say I am MIA or KIA because of the terrorist attack."

"Terrorist attack?"

"Right before I came here the military base I was at was attacked. I was attempting to flee back to my Sergeant so we could regroup and fight back. I wonder if they are o.k."

"So there is a war going on in your world to?"

"Yeah, It isn't a big one though. About six years ago terrorists hijacked a bunch of passenger planes and crashed them into some very important buildings, killing many people. Needless to say my country was pissed."

"So you have been fighting since?"

"No, I have only been enlisted for about six months."

"Well, I hope those six months have prepared you for what you are about to do next. I thank you for helping out my country."

"Sure thing princess."

"Why do you keep calling me princess? I am the Queen."

"I don't know. I don't know."

Albion Military Center August 28th 2007 11:30 A.M. (Military Calender)

"We have pushed the invaders out of our country!" General Basil yelled at the enthusiastic crowd of soldiers. "But that is not enough. We have suffered a great disgrace because of them. We must renew ourselves and our Honor by attacking the one who caused this disgrace! We must attack Tristian and Queen Henrietta! Tomorrow we leave for the Tristian village of Diminity and from there we will proceed right to the front gate of their Royal Castle!"

The crowd continued to scream and chant as Basil left the podium. 2000 well trained, well motivated men were at his very fingertips, and he could command many times over that if necessary.

"Stirring speech, as always General Basil." Councilor Harridge said as Basil walked by.

"Of course, I must have my men well motivated of they are to fight properly."

"And you are confident in your ability to invade Tristian?"

"More confident than you are about keeping your position in the Parliament. Ever since Sheffield left you have become more and more nervous, paranoid even."

"Thats because I don't want to end up like Wales Tudor! Even you can see what would happen if those men decided to go against us!"

"Don't worry about them, they are my soldiers and will follow my every order. Even to their dying breath."

"I hope your right. Anyways here are your official orders we have made some changes to them. Keep them in a safe place."

Harridge handed an envelope over to Basil, inside containing a signed order to invade Tristian the very next day.

"I will not fail, Councilor."

Road to Diminity August 29th 2007 1:00 P.M. (Military Calender)

"You know, in my world we could get a whole battalion of tanks to this place in less than a couple hours!" Steve complained as he drove along at 15 MPH.

"Well, were not on earth anymore buddy, horses can only go so fast and so far in a day." Saito said as he tried to sleep in the passenger seat of the humvee.

They were halfway along to Diminity, a two day trip by horse. Steve was beginning to understand how it felt to drive in New York or Los Angeles with the traffic problems those cities had. The slow driving was wearing down his nerves quickly.

'Tell me Saito, where is your plane? I thought you were going to use it."

"Look way behind us, It's being towed by 2 horses."

Steve looked in the driver side mirror and sure enough, way in the back of the Division of Musketeers was Saito's Zero being pulled by two horses that looked they horses from the old Budweiser commercials. He then looked forward and saw nothing but the backsides of people and horses. Great, he had been looking at asses for the past 5 hours, nothing new here.

A few hours later they arrived in Diminity. Steve mentally went over the plan again for the 30 or 40th time, adding in different variables, like what if some of the residents didn't want to evacuate? Or what if the enemy arrived later than planned, or what if they arrived with more troops than estimated. A couple more hours passed, it was around 7:30 P.M. Steve was sitting outside a small cafe, drinking coffee when he saw a villager sprinting up the street towards the town square. For some reason, Steve thought it would be a good idea to follow him. He started walking to the square and arrived their to find Agnes with a look that could kill on her face.

"Agnes? What is the problem?" Steve asked, but the sound of cannon fire was his answer.

"THAT!" Agnes screamed back. She pointed towards the sky where two sailing ships with wings were floating.

Steve did a double take.

"What the fuck! I thought you said the enemy wouldn't attack for at least a week! And what the fuck is that thing?!" Steve yelled over the sounds of a beginning battle.

"I know! Just get into your position and sink the bastards!"

Steve ran off towards his humvee. What the hell is with those flying ships he wondered. When he got to the Humvee he found Saito and Louise standing next to it.

"What the hell is going on!?" Saito asked.

"The enemy attacked early!"

"What!"

"No time for an explanation, you two get into position."

Saito and Louise ran off towards a field where Saito's plane was parked. Steve got into the humvee and cranked the ignition. It started right up. He quickly threw it into gear and put the pedal to the metal, burning rubber while he raced out of the village. He turned into a wheat field and bounded up a hill to a small cluster of trees. He stopped the humvee and turned it off. Then he shoved the door open and raced to the back door to grab his AT-4 Rocket Launchers, his Springfield Sniper Rifle, and his M16. He left the doors open as he raced for the cover of the trees. Once inside the small cluster he dropped everything and picked up the Springfield. He looked through the scope and saw the first wave of foot soldiers advancing towards the village while the musketeers fired their first volley. It looked like a scene from a movie as the enemy soldiers advanced towards the line of musketeers who had just started drawing their swords. He then looked to the field to see Saito's plane lift off the ground. He sighed a sigh of relief as he pulled his face away from the scope. He was about to put the rifle down when he heard a branch snap behind him. He quickly dropped the Springfield and brought his -16 up to his shoulder as he spun around to see 10 swordsman slowly advancing towards him. He yelled a curse and opened fire on them. The soldiers raised their swords and charge him. Steve knew that he couldn't kill them all and started to run towards the humvee, firing randomly behind him. As he got out of the clearing he saw two more inspecting his humvee, who were now looking at him as he came sprinting out of the woods. He fired two three round bursts at them and saw one burst hit the soldier closest to him in the chest and shoulder, causing him to spin around. The other one was better prepared and rushed Steve with his sword. Steve fired again, this time all three rounds went into the head, exploding it like a watermelon, and covering the hood and windshield of the humvee with bit with greasy cranial fluid and blood.

Steve looked back towards the woods and saw the other 10 soldiers coming out of the woods. Steve climbed up onto the hood of the humvee and then jumped into the gunners position behind the M60 mounted machine gun. He flipped the safety off and chambered around. The soldiers were just 20 feet away when he opened up fully automatic on them, spraying the entire area until the 200 round chain belt was finally finished. He took his finger off the trigger and surveyed the damage. He had just killed 12 people. But he had no time to worry about that, he quickly ran back up to the woods and found his equipment laying where he left it. He picked up the AT-4 and looked through the sights. Both ships were now within range! He fired the first AT-4, and watched it hit the bottom portside of the closest ship, which broke in half and fell out of the sky to become burning wreckage. He dropped the empty AT-4 tube and picked up another loaded one. This one hit the other ship right in the stern, causing up to crash land in an open field. Steve smiled a small smile of satisfaction. All he had to do now was head back to the humvee and wait for everybody else to finish off the remaining soldiers. He gathered his equipment and walked back.

Saito was flying over the village when he saw both enemy ships go down. Good he thought to himself, that out to make the fight a lot easier on Agnes. He then flew over the field next to where Steve was.

"Oh, shit!" Saito hissed.

"What? Whats wrong?' Louise asked.

"There are about 100 soldiers heading towards Steve and he probably doesn't even have a clue about it!"

"What?! What do we do! We have to find a way to tell him!"

"I know! But how do we do that? Its not like I can call him up and tell him...Wait!"

Saito quickly looked around the cockpit. There! He reached to his right and grabbed a headset that had been hanging on a wire which led to a cockpit radio. He hoped to God that it still worked. He put on the headset and flipped the radio to the emergency guard channel. Louise just stared at him, obviously confused by what he is doing.

"Steve! Come on! Steve!"

Steve O'Conroy sat in the driver's seat of the Humvee, going over what had happened in the past hour or so when he heard a loud burst of static come out of the speaker of the Humvee's radio. He stared at it for a second, then he grabbed the headset and started twisting the tuning knob, trying to isolate whatever caused the source of static. After a few seconds of fiddling with the knob he caught something that sounded like a person.

"Steve, you have...proximit...one hundred...enemy...advancing on your location..."

Then the radio went silent. Steve continued to stare at it until he heard Saito's plane overhead. He stepped out of the humvee and looked towards the sky. He waved to the plane as it flew into the distance over a large hill in front of him. He was about to get into the Humvee when he saw some movement on the hill that the plane just flew over. Steve grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked at the hill. All of a sudden he felt an icy ball form in his stomach. Over a hundred men were charging towards him. He quickly dropped the binoculars and picked up the Springfield Rifle. He took aim at one guy who was on a horse. He fired and through the binoculars he saw the mans head disappear into a pink mist. He worked the bolt, chambering another round and fired again, this time hitting another in the leg. The leg shot man kept running towards him however. Steve worked the bolt again, extracting the spent shell. He took aim at the injured man and pulled the trigger. Click! Steve stared at the gun, which was out of ammo. He looked back at the charging soldiers and decided it was time to get the hell out of dodge. He jumped back in the humvee and floored it. He looked in the drivers side mirror as the charging soldiers got smaller the farther away he got. Time to head back to town and tell Agnes where to mop up the remaining enemy soldiers.

Saito sighed a sigh of relief when he saw Steve's humvee race away from the fields and back into town. He looked at Louise who was staring out of the canopy at the sky and then he turned back to the planes instrument panel and saw he was 10 minutes away from bingo fuel. He did a final circle around the area, saw that the battle was mostly over and went to land.


	3. Chapter 3

September 5th 2007 10:00 A.M. (Military Calender)

Trumpets blared and the crowd cheered as Steve walked out onto the stage at the Tristian Academy of Magic. It has been a week since the attack on Tristian had been stopped. The news of Steve O'Conroy and how he sunk both enemy battleships had spread fast and he was now somewhat of a celebrity. And now he was to be awarded by the Queen herself for his "valor and bravery".

"You know I don't really deserve this." He told the crowd as he stood at the podium. "Truth be told in my world you have to do a hell of a lot more to even be noticed by the higher ranking officers. But, I won't refuse this honor or you all would probably tear me in half."

Steve stepped down from the podium and stood with his back straight as a rod as Queen Henrietta pinned the Tristian Medal of Heroism to his torn and dirty combat fatigues. It really was too bad he didn't have his ceremonial uniform. After the Queen had finished he did a short bow and quickly stepped off stage.

"Nice job out there man. You did great!" Saito said when he made it down off the stage.

"Yeah, right. I hate stages, and I hate giving speeches. Makes me so damn nervous."

"Well, at least you can be thankful that its all over."

"I guess."

Steve walked down the side street of the town, hands in his pockets. It had been 6 hours since the awards ceremony and now he was feeling depressed.

"God dammit that award ceremony got me all down. But why? Shouldn't I be happy that I am being rewarded for what I did? Crap, crap, crap, crap. I need some anti-depressants or something."

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that was unusually shiny. Sitting in a street vendor's cart was a Compact Disc. Steve stared at it, almost fascinated by it. He walked up to the cart and looked around.

"The hell is this doing here? Hmm, no sign of the vendor. Damn it, stealing this goes against every rule I was raised by, but to leave it here would be a crime in itself. Screw it! I'm taking it."

Steve slipped the CD into his pocket and walked off towards the academy

September 5th 2007 9:00 P.M. (Military Calender)

Louise, Saito and Steve were huddled around the laptop computer in Louise's room. The CD that Steve had brought back was one of the recordable kind that you could buy almost anywhere. The only thing that was on it was the number 2142 written in black marker. Steve opened the DVD Drive on the laptop and snapped the disc onto the spindle. He then closed the tray and waited for the computer to read it. In a few seconds and new window popped up onto the screen. The only thing in it was a folder icon with the label "Documents". Steve opened the folder and in it was over 500 Mega Bytes of Text documents, pictures, video and audio clips. Steve opened the text document at the top of the window.

* * *

**UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH**

_July 30th 2007_

The instant transportation network was ready for real world test. Permission to test request was sent to Department of Defense. The test was to be the simple transportation of a flower from Room 1 to Room 2, only 250 Feet away using the newly completed "Teleportation" Device.

_August 20th 2007_

Test was unsuccessful, the flower disappeared but did not make it to the other room. A straight connection could not be made. However it is noted that small hole remained in the "fabric of space". The hole did close after a couple of hours. It is not known if anyone or anything disappeared into that hole.

_August 21st 2007_

Executive Order to shut down the project was received. Main reason being that the project had, for the past 40 years, taken over 5 Trillion dollars to reach its current stage. And with the War in Iraq now quieting down for the moment the Government has seen fit to use Project funds to help provide relief and aid to the people of that country, saying that we need the people on our side if we are to succeed in the Middle East.

_August 22nd 2007_

The Project has been officially put on hold. For how long is unknown.

* * *

Everyone stared at the computer screen.

"What the fuck. I don't believe this, I DON"T FREAKING BELIEVE THIS!" Steve screamed in shock and rage.

"I am here because some God damn lab weenie fucked up?! NO FUCKING WAY MAN! THIS IS BULLSHIT!"

"Steve! Calm down! At least we know how you got here." Saito said has he tried to restrain the enraged Steve.

"I just can't believe this. I'm here because of stupid fucking luck, stupid luck!"


	4. Chapter 4

"September 12th 2007 6:00 A.M. (Military Calender)

"WHAT WENT WRONG?!" Councilor Harridge demanded as he slammed his fist down on the table.

"I don't know councilor. The two battleships exploded from some new enemy weapon or magic. Maybe we have been going about this the wrong way. Maybe we should try a different tactic." General Basil replied. "Yeah, something that is a lot smaller, quieter, like a surgeon. In and out without being noticed."

"And what exactly do you have in mind General?"

"A strike at the heart of Tristian. A strike at their queen. Getting loyal troops into the country unnoticed is easy enough, so long as they have proper covers. Yes, I think that a team of 40 or so loyal troops, trained and equipped to sneak into the Royal Castle and either take their Queen hostage or kill her, would be able to complete their mission."

"What? Are you insane? We can't attack a member of royalty!"

"Why not? If we take or kill her then Tristian will be a headless country, invading it would be easy!"

"Because its, its, its never been done before!"

"There's always a first time for everything, right?"

Tristian Academy of Magic

"Pull!"

_Crack! Crack! Crack!_

_"_Pull!"

_Crack! Crack! Crack!_

"Ok thats enough for today. Whats the kitchen serving for dinner tonight Saito?"

Steve pulled the empty STANAG clip from his M16 rifle. He put clip in his back pocket and started walking towards the mess hall.

"Something with fish I think. " Saito said as he grabbed the remaining clay pigeons that weren't shot.

"So its some type of fancy smancy noble food? Remind me to head to the kitchen and teach Marto how to make a cheeseburger and french fries. I'm dying for a taste of home right now!"

"Come on, the food here isn't that bad."

"No, its not but still, I would kill someone for a Big Mac and a Coke right now."

The two entered the mess hall which was just beginning to fill with students. They both took a seat at the end of the far left table, closest to the door.

"God damn, this gets boring." Steve said.

"What gets boring?" Saito asked as servants started putting food onto their plates.

"This place, this world, everything. I am a trained soldier, I should be out defending my country."

"You did, you helped stop and invasion like only a week or so ago."

"I meant MY country, the United States of America."

"Yeah yeah, quit bitching about it Do you think I don't miss Japan?"

"Well, you did give up your like one and only chance of going back. So probably not."

"I do miss Japan, but I made a sacrifce for Louise, who really-"

"- doesn't treat you the way you deserve to be treated. I mean really, up until a few days ago we weren't even allowed to eat at this table, and the only reason we are eating here is because Henrietta wrote down on a sheet of paper that we were "worthy" of eating with and like nobles. Whoopee."

"Can't you ever say anything positive?"

"Positive? Ok, how about, umh, lets see, umh, oh! Montmorency has a very nice bow in her hair. There, that positive?"

"That's the same bow she always wears, man."

"Now who's being negative huh?"

"Interesting conversation as always lover." Kirche said as she sat down next to Saito.

"Um, Kirche, I don't think what you are doing is a good idea." Saito said in weak protest.

"Why not?"

"Because, well, I don't think Louise would appreciate you sitting next to me."

"Oh come on, nothing will happen, my love."

Ok, Steve thought to himself, this has gone on long enough.

"Kirche, can you please leave, if not for the sake of Saito but for my own."

"Why would what me and Saito do affect you Steve?"

"Because I have to share a room with Louise and Saito, a small room. And when Louise gets pissed and tries to blow Saito up I get caught in the blast as well. I didn't survive 6 months in Iraq and the invasion of Diminity just to get blown up by a really short, temperamental 16 year old girl."

"Who is a really short, temperamental 16 year old girl?" Louise hissed behind Steve's back.

"Oh! Umm, Louise, how long have you been standing their?" Steve said nervously. He knew this wasn't good.

"Long enough to hear you insult me."

"Yeah well I, um I was explaining to Kirche that... Hey look! Dinners here! Lets eat!"

Steve was saved by the fact that the servent who was tending their table had finally reached them and started serving their dinner.

"God damn that was a close one." He thought to himself. "I wonder why she gets pissed so easily? Genetics? A bad upbringing?"

Steve turned his attention back to the dinner, Salmon Filet something or other. Whoo hoo.

"Taste good enough. But it still don't compare to burgers or steak on the grill" He thought after he took a bite. "Maybe I can show the chef hear how to make it but God knows these nobles would shout in protest if they found out they were eating commoner food."

After dinner everyone was free to do what they wanted, most people hung around their friends in little clusters in the main hall. Saito was of somewhere with Louise.

"Hmm, so boring here. All I can do is sit and watch children talk amongst themselves, woo hoo." Steve thought to himself. "This is what people did for entertainment in the old days? Fuck this. Jack has Halo on his laptop and I never beat it on Legendary."

So Steve pulled the little Alienware laptop out of his back pack and started up the game. In ten minutes he was shooting Elites in the head with the games overpowered pistol and tearing through groups of Grunts with the assault rifle. Things were starting to feel more like home. Except that feeling was interupted when he noticed that there was a small crowd beginning to form around him. They had never seen a computer or a video game before. Under the pressure of watchful eyes and Halo: Combat Evolved on Legendary Steve finally snapped.

"Da fuck ya'll lookin' at?!"

This was followed by a period of awkward silence, until finally one member of the crowd broke it.

"What did you say?"

"I said, da fuck ya'll lookin' at?"

"I would appreciate it if you didn't use words such as that commoner."

"Ok, first of all I can say whatever I want, its my God given right as an American citizen, second of all you can kiss my ass, this game is hard and its pissing me off!"

"You have the courage to disrespect a noble?"

"Damn right I have the balls to disrespect a noble. What are you going to do about it?"

"I, I challenge you to a duel."

"A duel? Listen kid-"

"Guiche de Gramont."

"What the fuck ever. I don't duel. Besides I wouldn't want to hurt you."

"Are you all talk and no bite commoner?"

"Ok thats it, where and when?"

"The courtyard, ten minutes from now."

The kid left and Steve snapped the laptop shut violently, he was pissed. He decided to walk straight to the courtyard. He didn't need his rifle, he didn't want to kill the kid. Steve started stretching in the courtyard while he waited for the kid, what was his name? Oh yeah Guiche to arrive. After two minutes the kid arrived and stood about ten feet away, faced him and said.

"Are you prepared?"

"Just say the word."

Steve bent down into a boxing stance. The kid Guiche just laughed and waved his wand, causing the dirt to form a suit of armor. Steve just stared at the thing, then, with lightning speed it was in his face, its hand ready to bash his skull in. He fell backwards onto his ass becuase of the surprise but, however ungraceful it was it did save him from a nasty hit because the mass of steel missed by a few inches. Steve rolled to the right, drawing his pistol while he did. After rolling far enought away he jumped to his feet and aimed his pistol. But the armor was too fast, in less than a second he had to dive to the left to avoid a hard knee to the chest. Guiche laughed as Steve squirmed like an ant under a magnifiying glass.

"It seems you are all talk, I haven't even been trying and you still haven't been able to attack."

"Your ass is mine!" Steve yelled as he dove under the armors legs. His plan was to run straight for Guiche and put his size twenty four foot up Guiche's ass. But before he even got close the armor was in his face again and this time delivered a hard kick to the chest, sending Steve flying backwards, breathless.

"If you give in now I will stop. Embrace your cowardice and give up." Guiche taunted.

"Screw you!" Steve yelled as he stood up. This was getting ridiculus. Steve raised his pistol and fired three shots as fast as he could into the armors head. The armor however, continued to walk slowly towards him.

"My valkyrie is unable to be damaged by such a puny attack. Please, give up before you get really hurt."

"Up yours!"

Steve decided to end this once and for all. He ran as fast as he could away from the armor, but it kept catching up. He took a punch the the kidney, and one more to the side of his head. But he kept running until his back was up against the courtyard wall.

"No where to run. How about giving up before I have to kill you?"

"Go fuck yourself."

The armor raised its fist and then threw it as hard as it could. Steve closed his eyes, but opened them. For some reason everything was moving in slow motion when he opened them. He could see the fist coming slowly closer. He let his knees buckle and give way and he dropped, in slow mo, to the ground where he raised his pistol yet again. This time he aimed for Guiche's arm and fired the remaining three rounds in the magazine. Again, everything proceeded in slow motion, he could see the slide of the pistol cycling back in forth, the empty cartridges flying through the air, and then finally, Guiche grab his left arm in pain. After seeing Guiche grab his arm things started running normal speed again. The armor quickly collapsed into a pile of dirt and Guiche was screaming bloody murder. Steve sat on the ground for a minute then he got up and went to Guiche.

"Let me see your arm."

"No!"

"Let me see it or I kill you"

Steve pointed the pistol at Guiche's head. Guiche, finally realizing that he had lost, complied. Steve grabbed the arm and looked at the wound. All three shots had passed throught the upper arm, missing the bone.

"Its only a flesh wound, you will be fine." He then turned to the crowd which was still watching in awe. "One of you go get medical attention."

He then turned his attention back to Guiche. He ripped the arm of Guiche's coat and tied it tightly around his arm above the wound. He then ripped some more fabric from his own shirt and tied it tightly around the wound itself, putting firm pressure on it. After a few minutes an nurse finally arrived. Steve explained what had happened and how Guiche was hurt. The nurse then levitated Guiche and took him to the infirmary. As the nurse left, Louise and Saito entered the courtyard.

"What happened here?" Saito asked.

"Oh nothing, me and Guiche had a disagreement. Its settled."

"Guiche? When did he get back, he was in the military wasn't he?" Louise asked.

"Well apparently not" Saito said "What did you two get in a disagreement over?"

"Oh its nothing. Its all settled. Anyways, where were the two of you? Off doing something special together?" Steve said smugly.

"For your information we were at the Principals office. We have recieved orders from the Queen to be a part of her royal gaurd when school is suspended for the summer."

"Ok, and when is that?"

"Actually, I don't know. Louise?"

"School will be suspended in two weeks."

"Two weeks? That would make it, lets see, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, September 26th. You get out of school during the fall?" Steve said in astonishment.

"September? What is this September?" Louise asked.

"Its the name of a month in our world." Saito answered "So it must be September back home in my world. Normally I would be in school right now but, thank god for that. So far thats been the only benefit of being here. No school."

"You know what, its been a long day. How about we all head to bed?" Steve finally said after a period of silence.

"Yeah, I am a little tired too." Louise said. "Besides, we might need the rest, I got a feeling tomorrow is going to be a big day."


	5. Chapter 5

"September 13th, 2007 12:41 A.M. (Military Calender)

"Stay back! Your not turning me into one of those things! I'll blow your brains out!"

Steve O'Conroy fired his Beretta M92 pistol into the darkness in front of him. He was leaning up against what felt like a steel wall, with his small chest flashlight barely illuminating 3 feet in front of him. He didn't know where he was or why he was here but he remembered, he remembered something, he remembered Jack, Jack Donnelly. Jack was leading him somewhere. And he recalled Sarge, Sgt. John Demp too. He was behind him. He remembered looking back at Sarge, then looking forward so he could see Jack, but Jack wasn't there anymore. Surprised, he turned to look back at Sarge, but Sarge had wasn't there either. He decided to continue walking down hallway he was in but didn't remember getting into. He then thought he heard something behind him. It sounded like, like a stomach growling for food. He then heard a scream. He ran back down the hall. What he saw was unimaginable. Jack was ripping Sarge's innards out with his knife and hands, while Sarge was still alive! And he was laughing, a strange demonic laugh! Jack was laughing as he killed his own friend and fellow soldier! He tried to pull Jack off Sarge but Jack took his knife and plunged it into his upper arm and cut a gash all the way down to the elbow. Steve screamed in pain and pushed Jack off of him. He looked into Jack's eyes, and he saw, nothing, not a single spark of humanity left. He looked over at Sarge, who now had the same look in his eyes. Jack was getting back up off the ground. He pleaded for him to stop, but Jack wouldn't listen, it was like he was possessed. Steve held his pistol up with his good arm, he cried out for Jack to snap out of it. Jack lunged at him and Steve pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times. Jack fell right at his feet. Jack looked up at Steve, and mouthed, "thank you" before dying. Steve looked back at Sarge, who was now getting to his knees, same look on his face as Jack's. Steve pointed his pistol at him and pulled the trigger, and he kept pulling it, even after it wouldn't fire anymore. When his mind finally heard the _click, click, click, click_ of the trigger, he slipped a fresh magazine into the weapon. Then he heard it again. The growling noise, just like he heard before Jack and Sarge were killed. He started to run. He didn't care which way but he continued to run until he reached a dead end. He sat down against the wall, his left arm, the one Jack had cut, wasn't bleeding to badly. Blood loss he guessed. Then he heard the laugh, the laugh that Jack laughed. He raised his pistol once again.

"Your not turning me like them. I will die first!"

He fired his pistol again into the darkness

"Oh God, the voices, the laughter! Monsters!"

Again he fired three more times into the darkness, which seemed to be getting closer, ever so closer.

"I, I did them, I did them a favor. Yeah, I did Sarge and Jack a favor, I had to kill them. I helped them. Maybe, may, maybe I, I can, I can help myself. Yeah, I can do myself a favor."

Steve pressed the barrel of the gun against the right side of his head, and through his sobs, he said a prayer for his soul and the souls of his friends. Then, he started to squeeze the trigger. It wouldn't take long, he had the trigger set to break under two pounds of pressure. He pulled the trigger a little tighter and, then, _BANG!_

He woke up in a cold sweat in his sleeping bag, back at the Tristian Academy of Magic. He ripped the bag open, stood up, and padded down the hallway to the bathroom. He splashed a little water from the wash basin on his face. He looked up in the mirror. What he saw looking back was an average Irish American who needed a shave, and a large red, swollen lump on his temple. Guiche's valkyrie or whatever it was must have hit him harder than he thought, cause he had a headache from hell. Maybe that's what caused his dream, Steve thought as he walked back to his room. He probably had a concussion or something from a hit that hard. Maybe he ought to head to the infirmary or something? Nah, its nothing he couldn't get over. But, every time he kept trying to get back to sleep that dream came back. Wait, dream isn't the right word. Nightmare, every time he tried to go back to sleep the nightmare kept coming back. Maybe there was more to his head injury than he thought. He thought he remembered time slowing down at the end of his fight with Guiche, but then again sometimes, when under large amounts of stress and injuries, the brain starts to perceive time more slowly, more detailed. He remembered reading that in a magazine somewhere, and hoped that's what was causing this dream and the slow down. Stress, lots and lots of stress. Finally, after two hours of tossing and turning, he returned to sleep.

6:30 A.M. Tristian Academy of Magic

"Yo, yo Steve, wake up! Wake up man, your gonna miss breakfast."

Steve sat up slowly, his back cracking as he did. He looked over at the person who had disturbed his rest with a look that could kill. Saito slowly backed away upon seeing this.

"God damn, I couldn't fuckin sleep. What time is it?" Steve said groggily.

"Its about six thirty. And if you can't sleep maybe you should see about getting your own room or your own bed or something. Something a bit more comfortable besides a sleeping bag and a hardwood floor."

"Yeah, that's it. Just couldn't get comfy."

Steve proceeded to get himself ready for breakfast. He rolled his sleeping bag up, put on his white sleeveless undershirt and camo combat pants. Then he pulled on his black combat boots, and walked out the door. He grabbed his laptop on the way out. It needed a charge so he would have to wait for that to happen.

Saito and Steve sat down next to Louise at the table farthest to the left in the canteen. Breakfast that day was crepes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream and sausage links as a side. Near the end of breakfast Steve was finishing off his 8th cup of coffee, his second addiction, next to video games and smoking. As he was finishing off his coffee he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned so he could see who wanted his attention.

"May I help you?"

The person who wanted his attention was old Osmands personal secretary Mrs. Lowell

"Yes, the Principal would like to see you in his office at the earliest moment you have available." She said, then she looked to Saito and Louise. "And only you."

"May I ask why?"

"You will find out when you arrive."

"Well, I ain't got nothing to do so I might as well go now. Louise, Saito, catch ya'll later."

Steve stood up and started walking up the staircase. He wondered what the Principal of a school would want with him, considering he is a soldier and not a teacher. Then again, according to Louise politicians liked to communicate with her and Saito through Osmond. Maybe someone had a new assignment for him. He knocked on the door to Osmond's office and after being told to come in he saw what might be the reason for him being here. Captain Agnes was standing next to Osmond who was sitting in his chair, puffing away on his pipe.

"Good morning, Captain." Steve said as he saluted in the customary American way of greeting a higher ranking officer in a formal setting.

"Good morning to you too. You're probably wondering why we have brought you here today."

"I got a feeling that it isn't so we could sit and drink tea together."

"Remember when you demonstrated to me how your, what did you call it? Oh yeah, M-16 assault rifle worked. I was wondering if you could allow us to disassemble and create a copy for our armed forces."

"Do you remember me saying that because of the materials required that it is impossible for you to reproduce this weapon?"

"We could try! You just need to let us look at it."

"I'm sorry but I ain't givin up one of my links to home. Why do you want a new weapon anyways? Ya'll got magic and shit."

"I am aware of this but fewer nobles are enlisting in the military. And after seeing your rifle I realized how far behind our weaponry is behind the kind in your world. I would like a new rifle that would give us a significant tactical advantage."

"Well I can't give you mine, however if you are all that desperate for a weapon I can let you take my Springfield sniper rifle.If I remember correctly my country used it effectively in the First World War. "

"Springfield? Oh, the really long wooden rifle with the telescope attached to it."

"Thats the one. It should be simple enough to reverse engineer."

"Ok, go get it."

"Now? Right now?"

"Well of course I mean right now. We need a new weapon as soon as possible."

"But, that means I have to walk all the way across, aw never mind. Fuck it. I'll be back in 10 minutes."

Steve left the room and headed for the shed they have been using as a hanger for Saito's plane. He decided to park his humvee in there to prevent the students from getting too curious about it and messing around with some of the equipment. He opened the side door to the hanger and walked to the back wall. He grabbed the M1903 Springfield rifle off the wall hook. He then went to the back of the humvee and grabbed a box of shells. As he walked back to the principals office he looked up at the sky. It looked so much like the sky back home. If it weren't for the two moons that appeared at night he could have sworn he was on earth. But that wasn't his luck.

"Here Agnes. I better have this rifle back in one piece. How long do you think it will take to copy down every last detail?" Steve asked as he handed his rifle over.

"Total time? I say a week at most."

"How long will it take for you people to start making your own?"

"We can probably start the day were done examining it. We will be doing all the work out at a large gunsmiths shop in a town not far from here. I told him about you and your weapons and he was pretty eager to sign up for the job."

"Yeah, well you have what you want. May I leave now?"

"Yes, you're dismissed."

With that Steve left and went back down to the canteen. He grabbed his cup of coffee and took a sip. Great, its cold. God damn Agnes for taking so much of my time. Ah man I'm so bored. Maybe I can go through Jacks lappy here and finds some more games.

He took the laptop out and placed it on the table and turned it on. He waited a few moments for Windows to boot up and after a minute he was presented with the logon screen.

"Ok, username is jackyd and password is starfox. And now we wait for all this crap to load."

Steve stared at the laptop as it logged onto Jack's name. When the toolbar appeared at the bottom of the screen. Over in the corner a little balloon popped up.

"What the hell? Wireless connection 1 now connected?! Connected to where?!"

He quickly moused over to the wireless connection icon on the toolbar and clicked up. This brought up the Status window.

"Ok wireless connection blah blah blah, ok here we are. Network name is USDSR. where have I seen those initials before? Wait a minute, United States Department of Scientific Research. But how in the hell am I getting a wireless signal from them? I'm in a different dimension! Wait, in order for me to get here a portal or something had to be opened. Maybe its the same for radio waves. Then this must mean that a portal is open somewhere nearby me! Oh shit! I have got to tell Saito."

Steve took off in a sprint to the little corner of the schoolyard where Saito did Louise's laundry and dragged him back to the laptop. However when he got there Saito saw nothing to be excited about.

"Dude, look at the thing. It says it isn't connected to a WiFi network so it isn't. You must be seeing things."

"But I swear to god I had a connection! The computer even said so!"

"Yeah whatever. I think you just need to get over finding a way back to our dimension man. Its not gonna happen."

"Yeah but, but, but,"

"No buts. Listen I have a lot of laundry to do, so can you please let me go back and finsih my job?"

Saito left to get back to his chores and Steve sat dumbfounded on the bench, staring at the laptop. He knew none of this was in his head.


	6. Chapter 6

"To my dear readers, I was not satisfied with the latter part of Chapter 5, so I re-wrote it. I am sorry to inconvenience you all by asking you to re read it, you don't have to if you don't want to but I significantly changed the story to better suit the characters, sorry.

September 13th, 2007 9:00 A.M.

United States Department of Scientific Research

"Well I think we've seen enough here Doctor Samuel."

"Ok sir, before you leave are there any questions you need answered?"

President John Patrick Ryan looked at the "Instant Transportation Device" and then looked back at the short, balding scientist.

"Only one Doctor, how long until we can deploy it in the field?"

"Well, sir we are years away from deploying this in the field for real world use. I mean we need large amounts of power, the equivalent of an entire days output from a power plant, just for one use. We don't have a way of powering this thing out in the field, in fact its going to be years before we are able to use the ITD in a real world situation."

"Wait, you told me over the phone that you could make this contraption work, when the other before you couldn't. You told me you could make this thing work! That was the whole reason I restarted funding this project, but now your telling me we can't use it? If its not field deployable then why are we spending money on it?!"

"Well, its because, we, um..."

"Mr. President, you can't look at this project as an immediate solution to our problems."

Both Doctor Samuel and President Ryan looked at the Top Office Director for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Special Projects Office.

"From what I've seen in my short time here at DARPA, the soonest you will see a field deployable version of this contraption is probably sometime around 2020 or 2030."

"Ok Robby, first of all how many times do I have to tell you that just because I'm the President, that doesn't mean we've stopped being friends. Please, my name is Jack, not Mr. President. Second of all, if we can't deploy this new fangled thing then why are we giving money to it that could be spent elsewhere, like on bandages so some poor soldier out there in the field doesn't bleed to death."

"Listen Mr. Presi- I mean Jack, it may not be beneficial to our boys in the field right now, but it will be beneficial to those boys's boys. We're preparing for the future here. You know how battles are won. Whoever has the most men, the most training, the better weapons and the ability to get them into battle the quickest wins. Our military already the first three covered, now we are working on the final one."

Jack sighed a sigh of resignation. Ever since assuming office after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney resigned because of some sex/alcohol/drug scandal that in reality, amounted to what college students do every spring break, he made a promise to himself to not let Iraq turn in to another Vietnam. Even if being there is wrong, even if everybody else wants out right now, he promised himself he would see Iraq through to the very end. And he needed that end to come quickly. In the year and a half he had been President he had been able to clean out the Department of Defense, Re-work the tax system into something that could be figured out by the average person, strengthen economic and political ties with Russia and most of the other former Eastern Bloc countries.Things were actually going good, the United States was back on the track to success, but it wasn't the fast track. In the age of instant communication and "I WANT IT NOW!" technology wars still take a long time to be won. But it seemed to Jack that nobody but him and a few other people understood that.

"Ok, I've seen enough here. Thank you Doctor for the demonstration. I'll be back for a follow up demonstration in about a month, so I better see an improvement in something. Like energy efficiency. It would be nice if we didn't cause a power outage every time we used this thing."

"Yes sir!"

"Robby I'll see you later tonight."

"Whats going on later tonight?"

"Sally's sixteenth birthday, remember? Sissy, your wife is baking the cake. Jeez, if you're gonna be forgetting things all the time I shouldn't have appointed you Top Office Director at DARPA."

"Hey, I didn't forget, I was just messing with you. Oh and Samuel I would you to analyze all the data from the demo for corruption. If you see anything out of the ordinary I want to know about it. Alright? Good."

Jack, Robby and Samuel said their parting words and went back to their own individual jobs. Robby headed up to his new office in the DARPA Research Facility to finish the paperwork that would make the United States Department of Scientific Research a part of DARPA's own Special Projects Office. Doctor Samuel went to collect the high density data cassette tapes from the buildings main computer, and Jack went back to the White House to calm down the White House cooking staff, who thought that only they should cook for the President and his family.

September 14th 10:00 A.M.

United States Department of Scientific Research.

Doctor Samuel was asleep in his computer chair. He had spent the whole night analyzing the cassette tapes from the previous days demonstration. All of a sudden he was jolted from his sleep by a loud rapid beeping noise from his computer. He straightned his glasses and stared at the window which had popped up on his monitor.

Secure Systems Data Analyzer Copyright 1982 - 2004

Error: Exceptions Found!  
Unauthorized computer connected to network!  
Network Name: "USDSR"  
Network Device: SYSCO WIRELESS ADAPTER #51  
IP Address of unauthorized computer:  
MAC Address of unauthorized computer: 01-23-45-67-89-ab  
Time/Date Error was recorded: 8:15 A.M.- 8:30 A.M./ 9-13-07

Error: Exceptions Found!

Error in Portal creation. Multiple Portals created. Source, Entrance, and Destination can only be determined for one  
Source: USDSR Labs  
Entrance: USDSR Station 1  
Exit: USDSR Station 2  
Time/Date Error was recorded: 8:00 A.M.- 8:30 A.M./ 9-13-07

Cannot account for 50 other portals detected at time of test

Recommend complete system scan  
Start System Scan Y/N?"

Samuel stared at the monitor for a brief moment while his mind tried to remember what he was supposed to do. Ah, he was supposed to call Robby and report anything unusual. He fumbled around with his phone, trying to get it out of his pants pocket, while he started a system wide scan. After he got the phone out he grabbed his Rolodex and flipped to the DARPA Office card and punched in the number that was written.

"Hello, this is DARPA's Special Projects Office, how may I help you?"

"Um yeah, can you get Director Robert Jackson on the line?"

"One moment please."

Sam waited and waited. He knew he shouldn't be nervous about talking to his soon to be new boss but his leg wouldn't stop bouncing. Its not like he was talking to the President or anything, he got that over with yesterday. Finally, after two minutes of waiting he heard a click and then.

"Hello, This is Director Jackson."

"Hey, Robby its me, Doctor Samuel, from the lab."

"Oh, hey Sam, how are things going?"

"Pretty good, but we have a couple of problems. You see it seems there was an unauthorized computer accessing our networks."

"Sam, I'm not big on computer crap."

"Ok, let me put this in layman's terms, somebody plugged there computer into our computers without us saying it was ok. And the strange thing is that it happened when we where halfway through the demonstration of the Instant Transportation Device."

"Is that computer still connected?"

"No, it disconnected when we turned the ITD off."

"Ok, and so what does that mean if another computer connected?"

"Well, it could be any number of things, most likely somebody turned on their personal laptop, but there is always the possibility someone was trying to stead data on the ITD so I would like to have you authorize a search for this computer."

"Ok, I'll fax the authorization papers over to you later today, now whats the second problem?"

"Well, we seem to have a problem with the ITD itself. It is creating more entrances and exits than we specify."

"So? Big deal. It works doesn't it?"

"Well the other portals that are made can be dangerous."

"Dangerous how?"

"Well, they could take something from somewhere and put it where its not supposed to belong. Since they seem to happen at random we can't tell pinpoint where these portals are leading."

"Oh, I get. So maybe my socks don't disappear in the dryer, they are teleported somewhere because of these random portals."

"Not funny sir."

"Yeah, ok that was a bad joke. But enough. You know what the problems are, you fix them. Got it?"

"Yes sir."

"Ok good, I will be seeing you next week for a follow up report on these problems. Alright?"

"Ok sir. I will get to work. Goodbye."

"A'ight, bye"

Sam pushed the end key on his cell phone and dialed in a number he knew from memory.

"Yo, wassup, who be callin?"

"Markus, its me, Sam."

"Yo Sam, wassup? You get that teleportation thingy workin' yet?"

"Yeah but I seem to be having a few problems with it. Think you could help me?"

"Well, my specialty is tracin' peoples stuff, you know, credit cards, IP addresses, license plates and whatnot. I don't know any of that trans-whatever the hell it is stuff that you know."

"Thats the reason I want your help. You see I need you to trace an IP and MAC address for me. We had an unauthorized computer access our supposedly secure networks here. You got a pen and paper?"

"Uh, yea hold on a sec. Ok got it."

"The IP address is and the MAC address is 01-23-45-67-89-ab."

"Ok, eight nine dash a b. Ok got it all. I should have some sort of information on this to you by lunchtime tomorrow."

"Your lunchtime or my lunchtime?"

"Yo, I am a hungry mofo so I eat lunch whenever I want mothafucka. And I meant your lunchtime. Why do you want me to track this down anyways? You think yous all gots yourselfs spies or somethin'?"

"Well, that is a possibility. Most likely its probably some employee screwing around on his personal laptop. Although nobody should be able to access our secure wireless lab network. Only a few people know the password to it."

"Ya'll have a power failure or something? Cuz that can cause some routers to reset themselves."

"Now that you mentioned it, when we demoed the ITD for the new boss yesterday it used up so much power that our on site power plant couldn't keep up. So we did have a power failure."

"Well that may be how ya'll intruder got in. You might wanna have your lab get some routers with built in battery backup."

"Alright, I'll remember that at the next board meeting. Well I got to go. Lots of work to do. Remember, you said by lunch tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll have your information. Later man."

"Later Markus."

Sam snapped his cellphone shut and stood up and stretched. He heard a rumble in his stomach telling him it was time to eat. He turned his computer off and took the SecureKey out of the power switdh and left. Work could wait, he was hungry.


	7. Chapter 7

September 13 2007 1:00 A.M.

"Are those...live rounds?"

"Seven point six two millimeter. Full. Metal. Jacket."

"Leonard...if Hartman comes in here and catches us, we'll both be in a world of shit."

I am...in a world...of shit. LEFT SHOULDER HUT! RIGHT SHOULDER HUT! LOCK AND LOAD! ORDER HUT!

(Sound of a magazine being inserted, metallic snap of a round being chambered)

"THIS IS MY RIFLE, THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT BUT THIS ONE IS MINE! MY RIFLE IS MY BEST FRIEND IT IS MY LIFE! I MUST MASTER IT AS I MASTER MY LIFE!"

(Sgt. Hartmen enters the room)

"What is this Mickey Mouse shit?! What in the name of Jesus H. Christ are you animals doing in my head?! Why is Private Pyle out of his bunk after lights out?! Why is Private Pyle holding that weapon?! Why aren't you stomping Private Pyle's guts out?!

"Sir, it is the Privates duty to inform the senior drill instructor that Private has a full magazine locked and loaded, sir."

"Now you listen to me Private Pyle, you listen good. I want that weapon and I want it now. You will place that rifle on the deck at your feet and step back away from it."

(Pyle points the rifle at Hartmen)

"What is your major malfunction numbnuts? Didn't mommy and daddy give you enough attention when you were a child?"

CRACK!!

Saito and Louise both awake and jolt into upright positions, they look around the room to see what the loud noise was, but all the see is Steve sitting at the table staring at the laptop.

"God dammit man! Its one in the freakin morning! What are you doing?" Saito yelled in groggy, unfocused anger.

"Right now I am watching Full Metal Jacket. Jack musta downloaded it onto his laptop."

"Ok, I have two more questions. A, why the hell are you still up and B, why the hell are you watching a movie?"

"In order, I am waiting for the wireless connection thingy to turn back on and while I wait I needed something to do so I went through all of Jacks video files. He has quite the collection of war movies, from the 1950s movie Bataan all the way up to We Were Soldiers."

"Listen Steve, so what if you got a wireless signal? Big deal, but its ONE AM IN THE GOD DAMN MORNING! ME AND LOUISE ARE TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP! Could ya please go to bed or at the very least put on a pair of headphones?"

Steve snapped the laptop shut and stood up.

"Fine, I'll go to bed. God damn, be such a bitch about it."

"Thank you."

11:00 A.M. DARPA Special Projects Office Cafeteria

Beep! Beep! Beep!...Beep!Beep!Beep!

Doctor Samuel looked down at the caller ID that came up on his phone. It was Markus.

"Mark."

"Sam, I got the info on that PC you wanted me to trace."

"Yeah ok, give me a sec to grab a pen. Aigh't, hit it."

"The laptop is an Alienware, it has Windows XP Proffesional on it. That software is registered to a Private Jack Donnelly. He is currently serving in Iraq. I sent him an inquiry but I am waiting for a reply. Question, does he have an family or friends that work with you?"

"I've never heard that name, I can ask around but as far as I know, no."

"Ok then why would the laptop that belongs to a person in Iraq be connecting to your wireless network here in the United States?"

"Well, think man. Was there anything unusual about the whole ordeal? Besides that the laptop should be in Iraq?"

"Well, no-wait! It only connected when we had the ITD running and the portals open! Maybe one of those portals was open in Iraq?"

"Maybe. Anyways, I will get back to you when Private Donnelly gets back to me. Later man."

"Take it easy Mark."

Dr. Samuel clipped his phone back his belt and looked at his lunch, Dry ham on stale rye bread. Man he needed to start bringing his own lunches to work. He decided that he had eaten enough and threw the rest of it away. He then started walking back towards his office. He needed to get the High Density Cassette tapes so they could continue with the ITD experiments today. One of the junior engineers came up with a pretty good idea on how to reduce the power requirements to the machine and he would need the tapes to record the results. But first he would have to call and tell Robby what Mark had just told him.

12:00 P.M. The White House.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jack. Its Robby!"

"Hey Robby, hows it going? You enjoy the party last night?"

"Yeah, Sissy still knows how to bake. I think I caught one of the White House chefs trying to get her secret recipe out of her"

"Really?"

"Yeah, fat chance at that happening. She guards those things with her life. Hell I ain't even seen even one of them."

"You probably don't want to."

"Yeah, hearing whats in her cooking might ruin the whole thing for me."

"Anyways Rob, why did you call?"

"You remember Doctor Samuel at the lab right?"

"Yeah."

"Well it seemed he ran into a litte surprise while analyzing the data from yesterdays demonstration."

"What kind of surprise?"

"Well, for one, the thing keeps making multiple portals, which according to him can be dangerous. And number two, he had a security breech while the demo was going on."

"Security breach? Did the guards make an arrest or something?"

"No, it was a computer security breach. Someone named Private Jack Donnelly had access to there secure wireless network."

"Was it an employee?"

"No, Private Donnelly is currently serving in Iraq."

"Then how could he have access to their network?"

"I don't know sir, I have Sam working on it. I just thought I should inform you."

"Allright, well thanks for the heads up. Make sure you get Doctor Samuel's final conclusion to me when he gets it."

"Will do sir."

"And Robby?"

"Yes?"

"You can use my name every once in a while, I don't think the Secret Service will kill you for it."

"Ok, I get it. Goodbye Jack."

"Bye Robby."


	8. Chapter 8

September 14 8:00 A.M. Tristian Academy of Magic.

"So you see Osmond, I have proof that I am able to go back home."

"And you can say this becuase of that little, uh, what did you call it?"

"A laptop computer."

"Right, so you say that laptop computer can prove you can go back home?"

"Well, more or less. If I was able to get a wireless connection here then there must have been some portal or something connecting this world to mine."

"Well that is nice and all but what was the point in telling me all that?"

"It leads up to the question I want to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"Is there any magic that can make a portal that connects or leads to another world?"

"Of course, thats how familiars are summoned. As far as I know that is the only way."

"I see. But couldn't you modify that spell to send me back?"

"I'm sorry but that is currently against the law. The reason being is that it would ruin commercial shipping and transportation industry. Sorry."

"Ok, thanks for your time sir. I think I am going to head down and get some breakfast."

"No problem. Have a good day."

Steve gave the Principal a crisp military salute and left the room. Ever since he got that small connection back to his world he had been obsessed with finding a way back or something. He was borderline psycho about it. He had been asking as many people as he could about interdimensional travel and spells and so far Osmond came the closest to giving him a possible answer.

"Hey! Steve! Over here!"

Steve looked around to see who wanted him. He saw Saito waving him over in at the end of a table. He walked over and took a seat.

"Hey look, the chef took your idea man. Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, sausage and waffles! Man it feels like I'm back on earth!"

"Yeah, now only if we could make Malt-O-Meal, if only if only."

Steve started piling food on his plate. In a few minutes he had cleared out an entire plate of bacon, half the sausage at the table and was just starting on his fifth plate of eggs when he noticed everbody staring at him.

"The fuck ya'll lookin at?!"

The room filled with murmurs of nothing, nevermind, and asshole. Steve turned back to his plate of eggs.

"Man, chill on the food, you act like you haven't eaten in years." Saito whispered in Steve's ear.

"How often do you think the chefs are going to make 'commoner food'? I'm stocking up for later man." Steve said just before he shoved a heap of eggs in his mouth. Then he started coughing and scrambled for his glass. He lifted it up to his mouth and tried to drink but it was empty. Panicked who looked around the room for something to drink. Kirche walked by at that moment carring a flask with some sort of pink liquid in it. By now Steve's face was blue and he was desperate for anything. He grabbed the flask from her and downed it in one gulp.

"Oh thank you God, that is much better. By the way Kirche nice apple cider you got here."

He handed the flask back to Kirche who just stared at him.

"Well I'm gonna go to the humvee and get to makin' some more rounds for the M-16. I'm down to a clip and a half and I need to keep with the target practice."

Steve gathered up his stuff and left the room. Kirche was still standing with a souless stare. Saito noticed this.

"Kirche, what was in that flask?"

"It was, well..."

"Spit it out!" Louise said.

"Ok, ok! It was a love potion."

'WHAT?!" Saito and Louise said in unison.

"Jinks you owe me a soda!"

"Oh shut up Saito. We have a bigger problem."

"Damn."

"So, after all that happened with me and my love potion problem you still went ahead and made your own? What the hell were you thinking Zerbst?!"

"I WASN'T OK?!"

"Yeah I could tell, I've already told you countless times there is no way you are going to get Saito so why do you keep on trying?"

Kirche was about to answer when Saito cut her off.

"Um, Louise, don't we have a more pressing issue to take care off?"

"Fine, lets go get him. After last years incident I decided to keep an antidote. Yeah I know the chances of something like that happening again are zero but God apparently hates us or something."

Saito and Louise left to get the walking accident that was basically Steve on ecstasy, weed, alcohol and shrooms all at once.

They were halfway to the hangar when they saw Steve next to Siesta.

"...and I said dammit Fido, get him over here before he craps all over himself! Ya get it?"

"Sorry, I don't- Oh hello Saito, Louise."

Saito smiled and was about to reply but Louise smacked him upside the head.

"Remember, accident on legs in front of us. Hold him down."

"Yeah, yeah. Siesta, stand back a bit would you?"

Saito and Louise started to circle around Steve, slowly getting closer.

"Hey, guys, uh what are you doing?" Steve asked, oblivouis to the fact that he was about to get tackled.

"NOW!" Louise yelled. She and Saito jumped on Steve.

"THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?"

"JUST OPEN YOUR MOUTH STEVE!"

"GET THE HELL OFFA ME!"

Steve stood up and threw both of them off of him. He reached for his M-16 but noticed it wasn't there. He looked over at the ground where it was laying next to Saito.

"NO SARAH!!"

He lunged for the gun but Saito got it before him. Steve stood back as Saito aimed it at him.

"Saito, put Sarah down before I hurt you!"

"What the, you mean the gun?!"

"I SAID PUT HER DOWN NOW!"

Steve made a sudden step closer but Saito clicked the safety off and stood back. Steve stopped.

"Hey, Louise. I think Steve is in love with his gun!"

"Of course I love her! Without me she is useless, without her, I am useless. Now give her back!"

"Ok, I will give it-"

"HER!"

"-her, back to you under one condition."

"What?"

"You must drink this, this, this hard apple cider that Louise made."

"Ok, Louise, give it to me!"

Louise stared at Saito, clearly confused by what he meant.

"Louise, give him the CIDER."

"What?"

"God dammit, the antidote!" Saito whispered angrily.

"Oh."

She walked over to Steve and handed him a small flask. Steve drank it all in one gulp.

"Ok, now give me back Sarah!"

Steve took a step towards Saito and then, he passed out.

"Whew, glad that is over." Saito said.

"Yeah now we wait for him to wake up."

"Oh is he gonna be pissed when that happens. And explaining everything to him is gonna be even worse."

"Yeah, well atleast we got a slightly entertaining story out of it."

"Oh, yeah, my friend drank a love potion, fell in love with his gun, and went ballistic and tried to kill me when I took it from him."

Saito and Louise grabbed Steve by the feet and started dragging him to their room. He was gonna be pissed alright.

9:00 A.M. Albion secret military base

"How many more times do we have to do this?"

"Until every last soldier in this base is in Tristian along with their equipment."

"But why can't we take a ship over?"

"Because a ship is visible, and can be sunk. This is faster, easier and a hell of a lot quicker. Now do you have your schedule for tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Another day of draining all the power I have just to form a portal for our soldiers to walk through. But wait, this time I get to start later in the day, after lunch. So that means I might have some energy left over"

"Quit complaining. I will see you after dinner."

"Yeah ok, good bye, sir."

"Good bye."

9:00 A.M. DARPA Special Projects office.

"Hey Sam, nice to see you!"

Robby Jackson walked in the door of Doctor Samuel's office and shook his hand.

"Robby, I wasn't expecting you for another hour. Why so early?"

"The awards ceremony got done early, can't you tell?"

Sam took a step back and looked Robby over.

"So you finally got promoted to Admiral. But why? Your not doing anything for the Navy anymore."

"It was for what I did back in '89 over the skies of Europe. 20 Russian aircraft, including a couple of Hind helicopters. We raped them."

"Yeah, that is what normally happens when you have surprise on your side."

"So, why did you invite me back here?"

"I think I might have fixed the power consumption problem on the ITD. I want you and the President here tomorrow to witness the tests."

"Ok, what time?"

"I was thinking sometime after lunch. Would that be ok?"

"Yes it would. Well, I got to get home, me and the wife are going out ot celebrate."

"Yes sir, have a good day."

"You to Sam."


	9. Chapter 9

September 15th 7:00 A.M. Secret Service Suburban, driving down Pennsylvania Avenue.

"Ok Robby, whats the big surprise?"

"Well, sir-"

"Jack, God dammit I've been your friend longer than I've been President."

"-Jack. Sam says he might have fixed the power problem with the ITD. This means that it might have practical use sooner than we thought. Anyways he wants us to be there in the afternoon when he tests it."

"Alright. But if its in the afternoon then why are we going now?"

"I need your help with some of the paperwork there. You know, approvals, requests, bureaucratic crap like that."

"Ok."

Albion Secret Military Base

"Ready to start another day?"

"Hell no. This shit really puts a drain on one. And why do we have to do it this early?"

"Because this is the last of the men who will burn a path to Tristian's capitol. General Basil was quite forceful that we attack later today."

"Aww, Screw that prick! He can't give me one day of rest?"

"Tell you what. I'll give you until later this afternoon to rest a bit more. But you will have to make your portal bigger and more powerful so we can get all the men through in time."

"You have a deal. See you in a few hours."

Tristian Academy of Magic

"Wake up, wake up."

Steve slowly opened his eyes. Where am I? He looked around the room and saw that it was his room, well Louise and Saito's.

"Man, I had this weird dream, I dreamt that I fell in love with my rifle, and I named it Sarah, and that you two made me drink this hard apple cider."

"Well," Louise began to explain. "The thing is"

"Louise." Saito cut Louise off. "Perhaps this is one of those things that everyone would be better off forgetting."

"Oh, right. The thing is Steve, is that you passed out from the cider and had that dream."

"Damn, how much alcohol was in that sumbitch? I can drink me two bottles of whiskey and not have a problem but, damn."

"Yeah, eh he, it was strong."

"So, what did I miss?"

Saito pointed to a large chest in the middle of the room. "Well, since you were blasted yesterday the teaching staff made some more ammunition for all your weapons. They were even nice enough to put them into separate boxes and label them."

Steve opened up the chest and sure enough there were three boxes in there labeled M-16, M1903 and M-60. He took a round out of the M-16 box, picked up an empty magazine, put the round in the magazine, put the magazine in his rifle, chambered the round, and then pulled the bolt back to eject the round. Satisfied he put everything away.

"Well, I'm satisfied, how about breakfast? I ain't had anything to eat since, well breakfast yesterday."

Canteen, Tristian Academy of Magic.

Sluuuuurp!

"Do you have to slurp your porridge like that?"

"Well, uh, yeah. Its hot and I'm hungry and this gets it down without burning my lips."

"You could wait for it to cool down."

"Louise, do I look like the waiting type?"

"No, you don't."

"Ok then." Steve slurped the rest of his porridge down. It's not that it was bad but it wasn't good either. Didn't really have that much of a flavor to it. "Ok, Later. I have work to do."

"Where ya going?"

"Doing some maintanence on the Humvee. Oil, gas, air pressure etc."

"Ok. If you need Saito and me we will probably be in town today."

"A'ight. I'll probably drive in later anyways. I'm gonna get me some ground beef and teach the chefs here how to make a cheeseburger."

"Marto ought to find that interesting. Well, we will see you in a few hours."

12:00 P.M. DARPA Special Projects Office.

"Welcome Mr. President and Mr. Director."

"Hey, is Doctor Samuel around?" Robby asked.

"Yeah, he is right over there by the entrance generator."

"Ok thank you"

Jack and Robbay started walking over towards Sam. Jack looked around the room. He noticed that there were fewer wires strewn about than the last time he was here. Must be becuase of the reduced power consumption. Well score one for Sam.

"Doctor Samuel. How are things?"

"Just fine Mr. President. I assume you are here becuase of the next round of demonstrations?"

"Yep, I wanted to see your new and improved version."

"Well the power consumption is improved but the whole entire multiple portals thing isn't. There are still to many things we don't know about yet. But we are getting there. We are getting there."

"Ok Doc. How much longer until we begin?"

"Well if you and the Director can move out of the way of the control panel we can begin shortly.

12:00 P.M. Albion Secret Military Base.

"We will be the last group of men to head into Tristian today. When we reach our destination we will meet up with the others who should have a base camp establised already. Our destination is the woods nearby their Magic Academy. The capitol is only a day or two of marching away. And we will march our way to their capitol, take over their Royal Castle, cut of Hentrietta's head and restore the glory that so righteously belongs to Albion!"

General Basil barked an order and out of a nearby tent came a short man.

"Yes, sir?"

"Are you ready?"

"Of course sir. Just give me a few moments to cast the spell and then you and your men just walk through into Tristian."

"Do it."

DARPA Special Projects Office

"Mr. President, can you do the honors?"

"Sure Sam."

"You see that key next to the big red button?"

"Yeah."

"Turn it."

"Ok." Jack turned the key. He felt a small shockwave as generators all around him kicked to life and started sending millions of volts of electricity out.

"Now, when you are ready press the button."

Baghdad, Iraq. 6:01 P.M.

"Well new guy, welcome to B Company. Unfortunately for you we drew evening patrol so get ready for a boring night."

Jack Donnelly yanked open the passenger door of the Humvee. He sat down and instinctively reached under the seat where his laptop was. Then he stopped. The keyword here is was. It was lost with Steve when those terrorist bastards attacked. Pvt. Leonard Lawrence crawled up into the mounted machine gun position on the Humvee. He just got shipped in to replace Steve O'Conroy yesterday. A very green soldier, he was still learning the basics of life in Iraq. Sgt. John Demp opened the drivers side door and sat down. He got to drive today. He started up the engine and pulled out of the motorpool parking spot. Ever since the attack he always went with his men to get the humvee or return it. He learned the mistake of leaving someone alone in this God damned country. Too bad it took the life of one of his men learn this.

He was near the exit when a large hole opened in mid air right in front of him. He slammed on the brakes and brought he vehicle to a screeching halt.

"Sarge...what the fuck is that?"

12:01 P.M. DARPA Special Projects Office.

Doctor Samuel, President Jack Ryan and Director Robby Jackson watched the exit portal machine with intensity.

"Hey, Doc." Jack said. "Nothing is happening."

"Yeah, I know."

All three went over to the Entrance portal and looked in. All they saw was the purest form of the color white imaginable. Sam then turned around to the control panel. He looked at the power consumption and decided to turn up the power supplied to the machine. He then went back over the the entrance portal with Robby and Jack.

12:02 P.M. Albion Secret Miltary Base.

"The spell is almost cast. Be prepared to move!"

A small hole of white light started to appear in front of the last group of Albion soldiers. Then it grew, bigger, and bigger. It grew until it was the size of a big rig tractor trailer. Then in the hole appeared the center of the Tristian base camp that was set up by the previous soldiers.

"Ok men, move out!"

The soldiers marched into the portal.

12:03 Tristian Base Camp

"Uhm, General Basil."

"What?"

"Look behind you."

General Basil and the last group of soldiers had safely passed through the portal into Tristian. But now he had this little wizard in front of him with the look of fear in his eyes. So he turned around and saw what was making the little guy piss his pants. In front of him were three portals, the one he came from, the one to the left of that had three men, two of them dressed in a strange suit and one in a white long coat. All three had their mouths hanging wide open. The one to the right had three more men, dressed in strange camoflauged uniforms, again staring right at him with their mouths hanging open.

"Sir, there are six people who know our location. What if they tell Tristian about this?"

"Shit your right."

Basil barked an order and nearly everyman who came through the portal with him quickly assembled behind him. He then turned back to the portals. He pointed at the men in the left portal and yelled attack.

DARPA

Sam, Jack and Robby had their hands up and were being held at sword point by five soldiers. The secret service agents and staff couldn't do anything as they were dragged throught he portal into this strange world.

Baghdad

Sergeant Demp saw the strange soldiers drag three people into the camp. He didn't know who two of them were but he did recognize the face of HIS President! He quickly ran back to the humvee.

"Jack! Newguy! Get the fuck back here they have the President!" he yelled as he started the humvee up.

"What?! That was the president!?" Jack asked in amazement.

"Yes that was the fucking president! Newguy, run back to base and get back up. Jack take gunner position we are not going to let this shit happen in front of us."

Jack was standing still when he saw five more soldiers start running towards him, swords drawn. Thats when the seriousness of the situation hit him. He sprinted back to the humvee and Sarge floored it before he even got the door shut. They were almost to the portal when it changed to a different destination. He tried to slam on the brakes but it was too late.

Tristian Academy of Magic.

BOOM!

Steve looked up from the M-60 machine gun.

"God dammit Saito, what did you say to Louise this time?" He mumbled to himself as he went outside of the hanger to see what had happened. He scanned the area but when he looked at the outer wall of the Academy his blood ran cold. There, crashed into the wall, was another Humvee.

DARPA

"Shut this god damn thing down now!"

The Deputy Director of the ITD Project just became the Acting Director of the ITD Project. He stared at the portal as it disappeared in a flash of static.

"And please tell me someone has the coordinates of that last destination portal recorded!"

"Already recorded, backed up and sent to the Department of Defense, the Secret Service, the FBI, everybody!" Some young lab technician answered.

"Aw, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"


	10. Chapter 10

Tristian Base Camp

"Robbay, Sam, what the fuck is going on?" Jack Ryan whispered to his two friends.

"You are my first prisoners, and soon to be my first casualties of this invasion of your homeland, Tristian."

"Who the fuck are you?!"

"I am General Basil, Albion Army and you are my prisoners."

"The fuck we are! I am the President of the United States of America! And you have just committed an act of war by holding me and my friends here prisoner! You will feel the full fury of America if we are not released immediately!"

"United States of America? You Tristians must think I am an idiot if you think you can bluff your way out by making up a country!"

Hereford, England.

"John! Call on line 1!"

"I got it!"

John Clark picked up the handset and pressed the proper buttons on the telephone base.

"John Clark, Rainbow Six, may I ask who is calling?"

"Mr. Clark this is Andrea Price, United States Secret Service, after I hang up you will get a call on your STU (Secure Telephone Unit) -6. Answer it."

CLICK

Beep!

Clark picked the handset on his STU up halfway through the first ring.

"I guess if your calling me on this it must be very important."

"Sir, you have no idea. And I can't explain even over this. I will however tell you this. I want you to assemble a massive team, anybody you want, we don't care so long as they are good, and get them to Washington as fast as you can."

"How large of a team?"

"Around one hundred, and I already said I don't care who. But either way, Washington, twelve hours from now. Good bye."

Click

"Nice speaking to you too"

Clark put the handset down and looked up at the ceiling. He didn't have a hundred men, and could only think of one place to pull more from. He wondered what crazy ass mission the President had for him today.

Number 2 Dzerzhinsky Square, Moscow, Russia.

Sergey Nikolayavich Golovko was getting ready to leave his office when his shiny new STU-6, a gift from the American President Ryan, started beeping.

"Is this Golovko, KGB Director?" The caller said in Russian

"Well, its the SVR now but yes I am."

"It will always be the KGB to me Sergey Nikolay'ch." the caller said, this time in English.

"Comrade Clark, is that you?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Well, what are you calling me for? If your on this phone it must be important."

"Yeah, it is. Its about that favor you owe us."

"What favor?"

"That favor you owe us for helping you push the Dragon out of the Bear's forest."

Golovko frowned for a second. It had been a year since the little war with the Chinese, and he almost forgot all about it.

"Okay Clark, what is it that you wish for?"

"I wish for 90 of your best Spetsnaz to be on an Aeroflot heading to Washington ten minutes ago."

"Why is that?"

"I got a call on my STU from a Secret Service person, who told me to gather a hundred of the best men that RAINBOW has. I don't have that many so I thought of you, Comrade Chairman" Clark said the last two words in Russian. He knew how the game was played at this level.

"Secret Service? That is what protects your President, is it not?"

"Yeah."

"I will see what I can do, Comrade Clark. Give me an hour and I will meet you in Washington."

"Thank you, Sergey Nikolay'ch. I guess after this it will be us who owe you the favor."

"Yes, it would be. Now I have to prepare, good bye comrade."

"Good bye Sergey."

Both men hung up and went to do the task of picking the best men they had and booking a flight to Washington.

7 Hours later, Dulles International Airport

"You know what Ding?" Clark said as he waved his Government ID at a Customs officer.

"No, I don't know what."

"I would be happy to be back home if it weren't for the fact I am here becuase of a problem."

Domingo Chavez glared at his partner for a second, angry that he was told to pack up and get everybody to D.C. asap and without a reason for doing so.

"You know, you haven't given me even so much as a hint to why we are here, with enough equipment to wage a small war."

Clark ignored Ding, and instead went over to the Airport Lounge. It didn't take long.

"John Clark, long time no see. How is England this time of year?"

Clark looked over his shoulder to see an attractive, middle age woman. And her husband. Mary Pat and Edward Foley, once his students at "The Farm", the CIA's Langley Training Facility.

"Mary Pat, what the hell is going on?"

"I can't tell you here, not safe. Wait until we get into the car. I want you and Ding to come with me, Ed will take the rest of your team. We're going to the House."

Clark frowned at that, the House meant the White House, and the White House meant the President and he didn't want to know what went wrong there. Still he picked up his bags, motioned to Ding who was sitting at the bar, and they both followed Mary Pat outside to her government issue Ford Crown Victoria. Once inside MP fired up the engine and cranked the radio up, some classic rock station, trying to win back the younger generation, so loud that Ding and Clark had to shout in order to be heard. To an outside observer it might seem foolish, even annoying but it was standard CIA tradecraft for defeating bugs planted in your car.

"So!" John shouted over the radio "Why did you order us back to the states?!"

"We have a situation, but we're keeping it under extreme lockdown, no more than twenty people know whats going on!"

"Ok, but what is going on!"

"The President, DARPA'S TOD, and a Dr. Samuel, head of the former USDSR Labs have gone missing!"

Clark froze, obviously this was a big joke, something to make him soil his pants!

"WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE IS THIS!!!?"

"I'm not joking John, It will all make sense when we're at the White House."

Tristian Academy of Magic

"Yob tvoyu maht!"

Russian, ironically, was spewed from the lips of a man who considered himself to be the shining example of an American. Steve didn't remember where he heard the Russian equilivant of "motherfucker" but it didn't really matter. Steve saw the doors on the humvee crack open, and two bodies flop onto the ground. He slowly walked over and rolled both bodies over, nearly fainting in the process. Sgt. John Demp and Pvt. Jack Donnelly, here, alive, in front of him. Man are they in for a hell of a reality check when the wake up.


	11. Chapter 11

Tristian Academy of Magic.  
September 15th, 2007, 4:39 P.M.

"Wait, let me get this straight, we are in another world, billions of light years away from earth, on a planet that shouldn't exist, where magic is the way of the world no less, and you've been here for how long?" Sgt. John Demp, United States Army, wasn't very happy at the moment, after being placed in an unfamiliar place and confronted with unimaginable challenges he was ready to snap at the first easy target.

"Jeez, when was it I arrived, August 20th I think it was, and today is the 15th of September, so that makes," Steve counted the days out on his fingers. "26 days, almost a month."

It had been a few hours since Sarge and Jack had arrived and Steve, Saito, Louise and almost all the teaching staff at Tristian Academy of Magic were trying explain to them what had happened. After the initial shock, Steve realized, they acted just like him. Quiet, solemn, depressed.

I was like this once too. about a month ago, I actually took my pistol and tried to kill myself. I tried to shirk away from my responsibilities, but either God, fate or the Great Pumpkin won't let me. God this is almost too much.

Soon Steve realized that the depression of his squadmates was spreading to him. But he held his tongue, no use talking to people who didn't want to talk.

"Hey, Sarge, what about what saw before we cames here?"

"Huh, what?" Demp was pulled from his depression induced trance by Jack Donnelly.

"You know, with the, ehm, with the President?"

Demp's eye's looked up so fast you could hear them click. Then came the inevitable, slowly spoken "oh, shit."

"Sarge, whats the problem?" Steve asked, puzzled by his superiors shocked face.

"That portal thingy, whatever the fuck it was we came through, when we saw it, we stopped just outside it. We weren't going to go in it. Had no intention at all of going in it."

Steve was puzzled now. "If you didn't want to go in then why did you?"

"In the portal, on the other side, We saw the President, and two other guys, one a doctor probably becuase of his lab coat, being escorted away by people in medival armor."

"What!? President Ryan!?"

"Yep, I told the newguy to run back and report the portal thing to command, and me and Jack here got back in the Humvee and floored it, but the portal thingy changed to here before we went through."

Steve let that information sink in for a minute.

"So you're telling me that the President was taken hostage by guys in knights armor?"

"Yep, and they weren't from earth I can tell you that much."

"Sarge, when you saw the President, did you see the place he was taken to? Surroundings, stuff like that?"

Sargent Demp looked down at the floor and thought real heard. "Yeah, it was a forest, looked like someplace out in the sticks, like a wood back home or Europe or something."

Steve didn't know much of the surrounding area so he turned to Louise.

"Sound familiar?"

"He could be describing anywhere around here."

Suddenly, Principal Osmond spoke up.

"Louise, do you know the spell that allows one to look through the memories of others?"

"Well, I was taught it but, I never had a use for it so I forgot it."

Osmond turned back to the teaching staff. "Next year, focus more on making students remember what they are taught." All the staff nodded in approval. Then he turned back to Louise. "I will have a look into this mans memories and try to find the place of which he speaks."

"Whoa, hold on, what is he going to do to me?" Sgt Demp asked.

"Just lay back and close your eyes, you won't feel a thing."

"Steve can I trust him?"

Steve O'Conroy thought back to his first time in this office, and the whole language translation spell incident. Then he decided it was best that Sarge din't know about that.

"Yep, one hundred and ten percent."

Demp layed back on the couch he was sitting on, closed his eyes and did his best imitation of a corpse. Osmond mumbled the words of the spell and for a few seconds, everyone was virtually frozen in place, afraid to move for fear of disturbing the old mans concentration. Osmond then looked up at the others in the room.

"Well? Where is he?"

"Not too far from here. But there are many men from Albion there as well."

Steve was about to open his mouth but Louise cut him off.

"Albion? You sure?"

"Sure as I can be, they had the armor of thier Royal Family."

Finally Steve got into the conversation.

"So, you're telling me men from Albion, that country whose ass we just kicked, is holding my President hostage? Ok, they have no idea when to quit. Ok, we need to get to wherever the hell they are and right away. We got 4 supurb soldiers here, all combat tested. Grab your socks and rock your cocks lets roll people."

Steve started walking towards the door when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"What the hell are you talking about soldier? Its you, me, and Donnelly and we don't know this place at all."

Steve shrugged the hand off, turned around and replied.

"You forgot one person. You see that little jap kid in the corner there? Goes by the name of Saito, He's a pilot and a good one. We have air support."

Demp turned around and then turned back to Steve.

"You're joking right? This is not the time to be playing pranks. That little boy isn't even half as tall as you and you're the shortest person I know of, he ain't no pilot."

That little jab caught Saito's immediate attention.

"Excuse me but when does height have anything to do with combat ability?"

"No offense kid but you don't look to be as old as my youngest son and he is 15."

That really got Saito mad. He had never been mistookin for a child his entire life, and to have this big brash soldier come in and tell him he is too small to be anything, unnacceptable.

"If you follow me sir."

With that Saito got up and walked out of the room. After a second everybody else followed him.

"Ok, I guess I can be wrong some of the time."

Demp stared at the ancient Japanese Zero in amazement. As most soldiers were he was somewhat of a history academic, amatuer to be sure but still one none the less and he had never seen a Zero in working condition his entire life.

"Well Steve, it seems you were right, what do you have in mind?"

Steve smiled

"Well, I figured we could....."


	12. Chapter 12

The White House.  
September 15th, 2007, 4:39 P.M.

"Ah, Foleyevna so good to see you, all these years and yet you still glow with youth."

"Cut the fancy crap Sergey, we have a problem."

"Comrade Clark, I did not see you in the corner over there."

Clark walked from the corner he had leaned up against to Sergey and shook his hand.

"Can we get started, precious time is being wasted here."

"Yes, you are quite right, time is precious, especially when one does not know what he is spending it on. Foleyevna? Care to explain to me why I mobilized my forces and brought them here?"

Mary Pat looked up from the documents that she had been reading.

"Well MP, tell the man." Clark urged.

"Well, the reason you're here is to..."

Mary Pat explained the entire situation to Sergey Nikolay'ch. It struck her as odd, explaining a secret of unimaginable circumstances with someone who used to be the enemy. Sharing secrets with a man whose job it was to find these secrets. However, she brushed it aside because due to the fact that more pressing issues are present.

"You must be kidding." Sergey said after a minutes processing.

"Sorry."

"You know, if I had heard this 10 years ago I would have thought you were, how does the saying go? Yanking my chain?"

"Yeah, I thought they were yanking my chain to, but I got here and MP filled me in." Clark said. "Now that everybody knows, what are we going to do about it?"

"Well, we have the last inputted settings for the ITD, I was thinking we start it up, send you guys through, establish a base camp and go from there. Any objections?" Foley looked around the room but nobody seemed to object. "Good, I want you all to go brief your men and then meet me back here in an hour."

People started shuffling out of the room. Clark sent Ding to brief the Rainbow troops. There were fewer of them. However, Sergey had 90 men to brief, and Clark thought it would be a good idea to help him.

DARPA

"Ok, everybody listen up, I am Doctor Williams, I will be taking the place of Doctor Samuel for obvious reasons." Williams waited for the Russian translator to finish before continuing on. "Now, I want everybody to pick up their weapons and gear from the tables across the room, and then head into the main lab. I will be at the Entrance Portal. When we get the machine up and running I want everybody to find a partner and go through two at a time, regroup on the other side of the portal and then everything rests on you."

Williams walked away before the translator finished. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

Tristian Academy of Magic.

"Alright people, check your gear."

Steve slapped the magazine in his M-16, pulled the charging handle back halfway and set it to safe. He made sure everything on his flak vest was secured and that his PASGTH (helmet)was comfortable on his head. He looked over at Demp and Donnelly, who were securing their own things. He actually felt kind of jealous. In the month or so that he'd been gone, the 1st Infantry had finally gotten ACU uniforms, MICH helmets and even M4 Carbines.

"Jesus, you two done over there?"

Donnelly looked up at him, surprised that he could be done so quickly.

"Yeah, well we have much more shit to pack than you."

"I noticed, and here I was starting to feel outdated with all my old equipment."

"Don't, this stuff isn't as big an improvement of the BDU than I would have liked it to be."

"Really? How so?"

"Well, the new uniform doesn't keep you to warm when its cold, and when its hot it doesn't help you keep cool. The MICH's were recalled a week ago, apparently some had manufacturing defects, plus I can never seem to get the adjustable padding set right. About the only improvement I see is the M4."

"And I thought my equipment sucked."

"Trade ya?"

"Don't think the uniform will fit buddy, but I'll take that M4 for my -16 anyday."

"Piss off, thats the only good thing I got right now."

Steve left Donnelly alone to finish his packing. He threw his stuff in his Humvee. They were gonna use both his and the one his team mates brought with him. He checked the fuel on both humvees, saw that it was good, and then he walked to the outer wall of the academy. He fished in his pockets for a cigarette and was lighting it when he noticed a small glowing circle start to appear about 50 feet in front of him.

DARPA

"Ok, destination coordinates set people, Mr. Clark, you may proceed when ready."

John Clark walked to the portal and stood stiffly.

"Everybody, fall in!"

In less than a minute every member of RAINBOW was in a standard formation, at attention. The Russians soon followed the example set forth by their American counterparts.

"Men, more than once, your countries have called out to you for help, and more than once, you have answered that call. There is not a man in this room, our Russian friends included, who have not answered the call of duty with extreme devotion and determination. Each and every one of you has been your own share of combat, and most of you relish the feeling, the surge, the adrenaline rush that only the unknown can give you. That is why some of you joined RAINBOW, to continue to serve, to continue to get that rush, to hone and sharpen your combat skills in a most unforgiving enviroment, the enviroment called war. Well, we are about to enter an enviroment that we know nothing about, against an enemy which we have never faced. And while we know nothing about what we are about to face, I do know that I will not send a man somewhere he is unwilling to go. So I now stand here and ask, those of you who do not wish face armed combat against a dangerous foe with your fellow soldier, will you please fall out."

Everybody stood in silence, not a person was moving.

"Well," Domingo Chavez broke the silence "I guess if your gonna use all those pretty words, I guess I'll have to go."

"Thanks Ding, you ready?"

Ding turned around and looked at his soldiers. Every face had a look of extreme determination on it.

"Just give the word."

Clark then turned to Sergey, who just finished giving his own little speech. "Ready, tovarich?"

"Yes, I think I am comrade Klerk"

"Ok, Team Rainbow, ATTENTION!" All faces centered forwards, feet came together, and bodies went stiff. Off to his left, Sergey's Spetsnaz soldiers did the same. "and MARCH!"

Every soldier in the room started marching towards the entrance portal.

To my all of my readers. First, I wish to apologize for dragging this story out so much. You know, the extremely long amount of time between chapter uploads, the short chapters and what not. I am truly sorry but life has been too much of an interference for me to finish this story as quickly as I want to. However, I guess on the upside that is a good thing. Instead of writing an entire story in a month, with all the time I've had between chapters, I've been able to re-read what I have already written and then write a new chapter but with the insights that I have gained in the real world. I beleive that actually prevents a story from getting stale over a while, even though it can make catching inconsistincies a bitch. And now, I really wish to apologize for what I am about to do with the story. I am ending the story right here, right now. Now before you freak out, I just want you to know that its only a temporary end, and I will finish it. But starting May 20th, I will be leaving to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for Basic Combat Training so I can be a proud serving member of the United States Army. And while I do regret putting you all through 3 months of waiting for a new chapter, just look on the bright side, when I pick up where I left off, I can give much more insight on the workings of a squad.

And finally, I wish to thank my readers. Your support, compliments, and comments have all made me a better author, more importantly, they have helped me improve the story. I thank you all for that and hope that you wish me the best of luck.

Thank You all

PV1 Steve Conroy

United States Army Reserve


	13. Chapter 13

Tristian Academy of Magic September 16th, 2007

"Wait, Team Rainbow, the international counter terrorist group?"

"Yes."

"And the fucking Russian Spetsnaz?"

"Da."

Steve continued to stare with disbelief. Then again, there was no mistaking it. He wasn't too sure about the Team Rainbow guys, but the AK-103 assault rifles were definitive proof of the spetsnaz guys being who they said they were.

You would think after all that had happened to, he would just accept what his eyes saw, but he still tried to reason it out.

"Ok, fuck it, I give."

"So you believe us?"

"What other choice do I have? Besides, almost everyone here in the motherfucking room outranks me, as a Private, I have the benefit of not having to think entirely for myself."

Clark turned back toward Chavez, "Is that the way junior enlisted personnel are trained in the Army? That shit wouldn't fly in the SEALs."

"Welcome to the U.S. Army buddy, full of fucking redundancies eh?"

Clark shook his head and walked to the center of the room.

"Can I have everybody's attention?"

All the side conversations stopped and everyone focused on him.

"I am John Clark, U.S. Navy SEALs, retired. I am now the leader of Team RAINBOW, the premier anti terrorist agency in the world, and my Russian friend over there, Sergey Nikolay'ch, is the head of the Russian Federation's Spetsnaz. We are now on a rescue mission, great unusual circumstances have brought us together. The President of the United States of America was kidnapped by unknown hostile forces about a day ago. Lacking the resources to pull of a rescue, I asked Sergey here to repay a favor owed. Everybody tracking so far?"

No hands went up.

"All right, now, for those in the room who are from Earth, I want a quick inventory of every person and their equipment. To our hosts, I would like to extend a quick thank you for allowing us to be here. We've got a long couple of days ahead of us people, lets make this happen."

People started scrambling around, grabbing gear and doing mental inventories.

"Make what happen?" asked Steve, as he started removing rounds from the remaining magazines in his Load Bearing Vest.

"Well, I guess were going to save the world, or at least one very important part of it. Hope these guys have a plan for getting back to earth."

Steve just shook his head and went back to the task at hand. I guess they are gonna need all the help they can get.

Meanwhile, Clark had some intelligence gathering to do.

"Sergeant Demp?"

"Yes Sir, Mr. Clark?"

"At ease Sergeant, I just wanted to talk to you. You said you had seen the guys who took the President right?"

"Yes sir, let me guess, you want talk about it?"

"Well, I figured maybe you, me and Sergey over there could hammer out a plan that follows the Six Ps."

"Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance?"

"Yep, you know what I'm talking about."

"Well, it ain't much but I'll give you what I know."

"All right, lets head over here, I'm pretty sure Sergey is gonna want to know about this."

A few hours later.  
Front Lawn

"....hope and pray, that you'll never need me but rest assured I will not let you down. I walk beside you but you may not see me, the strongest among you may not wear a crown..."

"Is that my laptop I hear."

Steve was jerked from his mild daydream by a familiar voice.

"Dude, that IS my laptop. It survived all this time? Awesome! Fan fucking tastic man!"

Steve kicked the door of the Humvee open and grunted as he stood up from the driver's seat. Sure these new commanders chairs were more comfortable than the lawn chairs that used to pass for seats in a Humvee, but they still don't lean back.

"Hey man, why didn't you tell me my laptop survived?" Jack asked.

"Because I knew you would come and grab it first chance you got?"

"Real funny smart ass. You were always a real fucking comedian"

"I try."

"Don't. Anyways, do you know what this means?"

"We can look at porn and have a jerk circle before getting ourselves killed by a bunch of archaic barbarians?"

"No, well, yes but no. This means we can rock out with our cocks out while killing a bunch of archaic barbarians."

"Well fuck a doodle do."

"Hey man, what's your problem. You don't seem very excited about this?"

"Should I be? Do you have any idea what we are up against. These people, if some of them can be called that, are capable of destroying entire city blocks with a wave of their hands."

"Fuck 'em. Where the U.S. Army. The United States Army! The most powerful military force in all of fucking existence! These people don't even have firearms. It'll be like being the bully at the elementary school playground. 5 minutes or so and we'll have our lunch money."

"Yeah, we'll see. You know what. Fuck it, you're right. Were the fucking Army, and we got the Spetsnaz and those RAINBOW guys covering our asses."

"Exactly, how could we possibly lose?"

Sorry guys for the length in between updates. School, work, and Modern Warfare 2 have been eating away at my time, what can I say?

I'm starting the next chap right away. 


End file.
